In a significant policy decision, India has decided to shift towards a modern storage system for its foodgrains, mainly silos. This has been in the works ever since a pilot project was begun during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime. The process has gathered pace and now, the Centre says the modern storage system will be in place by 2025-26.

In addition, the Indian Food and Civil Supplies Department has decided not to go in for additional cover and plinth (CAP) storage, which basically means storing foodgrains under the open sky. Instead, it has decided to utilise the additional capacity in its godowns and warehouses by increasing the height of stacks from 20 bags to 25 bags.

This will help store 16.5 million tonnes of more grains besides saving Rs 8,000 crore to the exchequer. The Indian government plans to put in place a modern storage silo capacity of 10 million tonnes by 2025-26. A sum of Rs 1,850 crore will be spent for constructing these silos, excluding the land costs.

T V Vivek and Subraman Ra Mancombu discuss the government's move and what it means for India's foodgrain storage.

Edited & Produced by Siddharth Mathew Cherian