Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Branch of Government of India
Ministry of Consumer Affairs
South Block building, housing the Cabinet Secretariat
Agency overview
Formed	2 September 1946
Jurisdiction	Government of India
Headquarters	Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi
Annual budget	₹205,765 crore (US$24 billion) (2023–24 est.)
Ministers responsible	Pralhad Joshi , (Cabinet Minister) Nimuben Bambhaniya, (Minister of State) Banwari Lal Verma, (Minister of State)
Website	https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is a government ministry of India. The ministry is headed by a Cabinet rank minister.

Departments

The ministry is divided into two departments, the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Department of Food and Public Distribution

The objectives of the department are to ensure:

• remunerative rates for the farmers.
• supply of food grains at reasonable prices through the public distribution system.

Public Distribution System

The Indian Public Distribution System (PDS) is a national food security system that distributes subsidised food to India's poor. Major commodities include wheat, rice and sugar. Surpluses of food from increased crop yields (as a result of the Green Revolution and good monsoon seasons) are managed by the Food Corporation of India, established by the Food Corporation Act 1964. The system implements national policy for farm price support, operations, procurement, storage, preservation, inter-state movement and distribution. PDS has a network of about 478,000 Fair Price Shops (FPS), perhaps the largest distribution network of its type in the world, operated by the Union Government and state governments.

Department of Consumer Affairs

The department administers the policies for Consumer Cooperatives, price monitoring, essential commodity availability, consumer movement and control of statutory bodies such as the Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS) and Weights and Measures. ^[1]

The department is responsible for: ^[1]

• National Test House
• Standards of Weights and Measures
• The Bureau of Indian Standards
• Consumer Cooperatives
• Forward Markets Commission, Mumbai
• Monitoring of Prices and Availability of essential commodities
• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019
• Consumer Welfare Fund
• Internal Trade
• Inter-State Trade: The Spirituous Preparations (Inter-State Trade and Commerce) Control Act, 1955 (39 of 1955).
• Control of Futures Trading: the Forward Contracts (Regulations) Act, 1952 (74 of 1952).

The department regulates the availability and prescribes measures to see that the system works towards the food security of vulnerable people. This intent is to increase dignity, accountability, visibility, positive orientation and changed mind set.

Institutes

1. National Sugar Institute, Kanpur

Related Agencies

1. Central Consumer Protection Authority

Cabinet Ministers

Food and Agriculture (1947–1971)

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
Minister of Food and Agriculture
		Rajendra Prasad (1884–1963) MP for Bihar (Constituency Assembly)	15 August 1947	14 January 1948	152 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru I		Jawaharlal Nehru
		Jairamdas Daulatram (1891–1979) MP for East Punjab (Constituent Assembly)	19 January 1948	13 May 1950	2 years, 114 days
		Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (1887–1971) MP for Bombay (Constituent Assembly)	13 May 1950	13 May 1952	2 years, 0 days
		Rafi Ahmed Kidwai (1894–1954) MP for Bahraich District (East)	13 May 1952	24 October 1954 [†]	2 years, 164 days		Nehru II
		Panjabrao Deshmukh (1898–1965) MP for Amravati (Minister without cabinet rank)	29 October 1954	25 November 1954	27 days
		Ajit Prasad Jain (1902–1977) MP for Saharanpur	25 November 1954	17 April 1957	1 year, 272 days
			17 April 1957	24 August 1959			Nehru III
		S. K. Patil (1898–1981) MP for Mumbai South	24 August 1959	10 April 1962	4 years, 8 days
			10 April 1962	1 September 1963			Nehru IV
		Swaran Singh (1907–1994) MP for Jullundur	1 September 1963	27 May 1964	282 days
			27 May 1964	9 June 1964			Nanda I		Gulzarilal Nanda
		Chidambaram Subramaniam (1910–2000) MP for Palani	9 June 1964	24 January 1966	1 year, 229 days		Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
							Nanda II		Gulzarilal Nanda
Minister of Food, Agriculture, Community Development and Cooperation
		Chidambaram Subramaniam (1910–2000) MP for Palani	24 January 1966 [§]	13 March 1967	1 year, 48 days	Indian National Congress	Indira I		Indira Gandhi
		Jagjivan Ram (1908–1986) MP for Sasaram	13 March 1967	27 June 1970	3 years, 106 days		Indira II
		Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1905–1977) MP for Barpeta	27 June 1970	2 May 1971	309 days
						Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III

Civil Supplies (1974–1983)

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
Minister of Industry and Civil Supplies
		T. A. Pai (1922–1981) MP for Karnataka (Rajya Sabha)	10 October 1974	9 August 1976	1 year, 304 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III		Indira Gandhi
Minister of Civil Supplies and Cooperation
		Syed Mir Qasim (1921–2004) MP for Jammu and Kashmir (Rajya Sabha)	9 August 1976	24 March 1977	227 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III		Indira Gandhi
Minister of Commerce and Civil Supplies
		Mohan Dharia (1925–2013) MP for Pune	24 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 126 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
		Hitendra Kanaiyalal Desai (1915–1993) MP for Godhra	30 July 1979	14 January 1980	349 days	Janata Party (Secular)	Charan		Charan Singh
Minister of Civil Supplies
		Pranab Mukherjee (1935–2020) MP for Gujarat (Rajya Sabha)	14 January 1980	8 June 1980	146 days	Indian National Congress	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
		Vidya Charan Shukla (1929–2013) MP for Mahasamund	8 June 1980	19 March 1981	284 days
		Rao Birender Singh (1921–2000) MP for Mahendragarh	19 March 1981	2 September 1982	1 year, 167 days
Minister of Civil Supplies and Cooperation
		Bhagwat Jha Azad (1922–2011) MP for Bhagalpur (Minister of State, I/C)	2 September 1982	29 January 1983	149 days	Indian National Congress	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
		Bhishma Narain Singh (1933–2018) MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha)	29 January 1983	14 February 1983	16 days

Food and Civil Supplies (1983–1991)

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
		Bhagwat Jha Azad (1922–2011) MP for Bhagalpur (Minister of State, I/C)	14 February 1983	31 October 1984	1 year, 260 days	Indian National Congress	Indira IV		Indira Gandhi
			4 November 1984	31 December 1984	57 days		Rajiv I		Rajiv Gandhi
		Rao Birender Singh (1921–2000) MP for Mahendragarh	31 December 1984	25 September 1985	268 days		Rajiv II
		Brigadier Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo AVSM (born 1941) MP for Dhenkanal (Minister of State, I/C)	25 September 1985	27 January 1986	124 days
		P. Shiv Shankar (1929–2017) MP for Gujarat (Rajya Sabha)	27 January 1986	12 May 1986	105 days
		H. K. L. Bhagat (1921–2005) MP for East Delhi	12 May 1986	14 February 1988	1 year, 278 days
		Sukh Ram (1927–2022) MP for Mandi (Minister of State, I/C)	14 February 1988	2 December 1989	1 year, 291 days
		Vishwanath Pratap Singh (1931–2008) MP for Fatehpur (Prime Minister)	2 December 1989	8 December 1989	6 days	Janata Dal	Vishwanath		Vishwanath Pratap Singh
		Nathuram Mirdha (1921–1996) MP for Nagaur	8 December 1989	10 November 1990	337 days
		Chandra Shekhar (1927–2007) MP for Ballia (Prime Minister)	10 November 1990	21 November 1990	11 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar		Chandra Shekhar
		Rao Birender Singh (1921–2000) MP for Mahendragarh	21 November 1990	26 June 1991	217 days
Bifurcated into the Ministry of Food and the Ministry of Civil Supplies and Public Distribution

Food (1991–1997)

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
		Tarun Gogoi (1936–2020) MP for Kaliabor (Minister of State, I/C)	21 June 1991	17 January 1993	1 year, 210 days	Indian National Congress	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
		Kalpnath Rai (1941–1999) MP for Ghosi (Minister of State, I/C)	17 January 1993	21 December 1994	1 year, 338 days
		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	21 December 1994	10 February 1995	51 days
		Ajit Singh (1939–2021) MP for Baghpat	10 February 1995	16 May 1996	1 year, 96 days
		Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister)	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Devendra Prasad Yadav (born 1953) MP for Jhanjharpur	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	324 days	Janata Dal	Deve Gowda		H. D. Deve Gowda
		Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha) (Prime Minister)	21 April 1997	23 April 1997	2 days		Gujral		Inder Kumar Gujral
		Chaturanan Mishra (1925–2011) MP for Madhubani	23 April 1997	9 June 1997	47 days	Communist Party of India
Merged with Ministry of Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution to form the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs

Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (1991–1997)

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	21 June 1991	18 January 1993	1 year, 211 days	Indian National Congress	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
		A. K. Antony (born 1940) MP for Kerala (Rajya Sabha)	18 January 1993	8 February 1995	2 years, 21 days
		Buta Singh (1934–2021) MP for Jalore	10 February 1995	20 February 1996	1 year, 10 days
		P. V. Narasimha Rao (1921–2004) MP for Nandyal (Prime Minister)	20 February 1996	16 May 1996	86 days
		Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924–2018) MP for Lucknow (Prime Minister)	16 May 1996	1 June 1996	16 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee I		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Devendra Prasad Yadav (born 1953) MP for Jhanjharpur	1 June 1996	21 April 1997	324 days	Janata Dal	Deve Gowda		H. D. Deve Gowda
		Inder Kumar Gujral (1919–2012) MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha) (Prime Minister)	21 April 1997	23 April 1997	2 days		Gujral		Inder Kumar Gujral
		Chaturanan Mishra (1925–2011) MP for Madhubani	23 April 1997	9 June 1997	47 days	Communist Party of India
Merged with Ministry of Food to form the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs

Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (1997–present)

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
Minister of Food and Consumer Affairs
		Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (1946–2020) MP for Vaishali (Minister of State, I/C)	9 June 1997	10 January 1998	215 days	Rashtriya Janata Dal	Gujral		Inder Kumar Gujral
		Balwant Singh Ramoowalia (born 1942) MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)	10 January 1998	19 March 1998	68 days	Independent
		Surjit Singh Barnala (1925–2017) MP for Sangrur	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	1 year, 208 days	Shiromani Akali Dal	Vajpayee II		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution
		Shanta Kumar (born 1934) MP for Kangra	13 October 1999	17 July 2000	278 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
		Shanta Kumar (born 1934) MP for Kangra	17 July 2000	1 July 2002	1 year, 349 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee III		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Sharad Yadav (1947–2023) MP for Madhepura	1 July 2002	22 May 2004	1 year, 326 days	Janata Dal (United)
		Sharad Pawar (born 1940) MP for Baramati, until 2009 MP for Madha, from 2009	23 May 2004	22 May 2009	6 years, 241 days	Nationalist Congress Party	Manmohan I		Manmohan Singh
			23 May 2009	19 January 2011			Manmohan II
		K. V. Thomas (born 1946) MP for Ernakulam (Minister of State, I/C)	19 January 2011	26 May 2014	3 years, 127 days	Indian National Congress
		Ram Vilas Paswan (1946–2020) MP for Hajipur, until 2019 MP for Bihar (Rajya Sabha), from 2019	27 May 2014	30 May 2019	6 years, 134 days	Lok Janshakti Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
			31 May 2019	8 October 2020 [†]			Modi II
		Piyush Goyal (born 1964) MP for Maharashtra (Rajya Sabha)	9 October 2020	9 June 2024	3 years, 244 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
		Pralhad Joshi (born 1962) MP for Dharwad	10 June 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 135 days		Modi III

Ministers of State

Portrait		Minister (Birth-Death) Constituency	Term of office			Political party	Ministry	Prime Minister
			From	To	Period
Minister of State for Food and Agriculture
		Panjabrao Deshmukh (1898–1965) MP for Amravati Minister of Cooperation from 25 Apr 1957	17 April 1957	10 April 1962	4 years, 358 days	Indian National Congress	Nehru III		Jawaharlal Nehru
		Ram Subhag Singh (1917–1980) MP for Bikramganj	8 May 1962	27 May 1964	2 years, 19 days		Nehru IV
		Alungal Mathai Thomas (1912–1981) MP for Ernakulam	21 November 1963	27 May 1964	10 years, 188 days
		Ram Subhag Singh (1917–1980) MP for Bikramganj	27 May 1964	9 June 1964	13 days		Nanda I		Gulzarilal Nanda
		Alungal Mathai Thomas (1912–1981) MP for Ernakulam			17 days
			9 June 1964	13 June 1964			Shastri		Lal Bahadur Shastri
Minister of State for Food, Agriculture, Community Development and Cooperation
		Panampilly Govinda Menon (1906–1970) MP for Mukundapuram	24 January 1966	13 March 1967	1 year, 48 days	Indian National Congress	Indira I		Indira Gandhi
		Annasaheb Shinde (1922–1993) MP for Kopargaon	13 March 1967	18 March 1971	4 years, 5 days		Indira II
		M. S. Gurupadaswamy (1924–2011) Rajya Sabha MP for Uttar Pradesh	5 June 1967	17 October 1969	2 years, 134 days
		Annasaheb Shinde (1922–1993) MP for Kopargaon	18 March 1971	2 May 1971	45 days		Indira III
Minister of State for Industry and Civil Supplies
		Anant Sharma (1919–1988) Rajya Sabha MP for Bihar	10 October 1974	9 August 1976	1 year, 304 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III		Indira Gandhi
		Buddha Priya Maurya (1926–2004) MP for Hapur
		A. C. George MP for Mukundapuram
Minister of State for Civil Supplies and Cooperation
		A. C. George MP for Mukundapuram	9 August 1976	24 March 1977	227 days	Indian National Congress (R)	Indira III		Indira Gandhi
		Arif Beg (1935–2016) MP for Bhopal	14 August 1977	28 July 1979	1 year, 348 days	Janata Party	Desai		Morarji Desai
		Krishna Kumar Goyal (1932–2013) MP for Kota
Minister of State for Commerce and Civil Supplies
		Henry Austin (1920–2008) MP for Ernakulam	30 July 1979	14 January 1980	349 days	Indian National Congress (U)	Charan		Charan Singh
Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies
		Ajit Kumar Panja (1936–2008) MP for Calcutta North East	19 February 1986	22 October 1986	245 days	Indian National Congress	Rajiv II		Rajiv Gandhi
		Ghulam Nabi Azad (born 1949) MP for Washim	22 October 1986	7 September 1987	320 days
		Ram Pujan Patel (1940–2021) MP for Phulpur	23 April 1990	10 November 1990	201 days	Janata Dal	Vishwanath		Vishwanath Pratap Singh
		Sarwar Hussain (born 1949) MP for Bulandshahr	21 November 1990	20 February 1991	91 days	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)	Chandra Shekhar		Chandra Shekhar
Minister of State for Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution
		Kamaluddin Ahmed (1930–2018) MP for Hanamkonda	21 June 1991	29 September 1994	3 years, 100 days	Indian National Congress	Rao		P. V. Narasimha Rao
		Krishna Sahi (born 1931) MP for Begusarai Minister of State, Civil Supplies from 19 Sep 1995	15 September 1995	16 May 1996	244 days
		Venod Sharma (born 1948) MP for Haryana (Rajya Sabha) Minister of State, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution System from 19 Sep 1995
Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs
		Satyapal Singh Yadav (born 1942) MP for Shahjahanpur	19 March 1998	13 October 1999	1 year, 208 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Vajpayee II		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution
		V. Sreenivasa Prasad (1947–2024) MP for Chamarajanagar	13 October 1999	17 July 2000	278 days	Samata Party	Vajpayee III		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Sriram Chauhan (born 1953) MP for Basti	22 November 1999	17 July 2000	238 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
		V. Sreenivasa Prasad (1947–2024) MP for Chamarajanagar	17 July 2000	6 March 2004	3 years, 233 days	Janata Dal (United)	Vajpayee III		Atal Bihari Vajpayee
		Sriram Chauhan (born 1953) MP for Basti	17 July 2000	1 September 2001	1 year, 46 days	Bharatiya Janata Party
		Ashok Kumar Pradhan (born 1953) MP for Khurja	1 September 2001	1 July 2002	303 days
		U. V. Krishnam Raju (1940–2022) MP for Narasapuram	1 July 2002	29 January 2003	212 days
		Subhash Maharia (born 1957) MP for Sikar	29 January 2003	22 May 2004	1 year, 114 days
		Kantilal Bhuria (born 1950) MP for Ratlam	23 May 2004	22 May 2009	4 years, 364 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan I		Manmohan Singh
		Akhilesh Prasad Singh (born 1962) MP for Motihari	23 May 2004	22 May 2009	4 years, 364 days	Rashtriya Janata Dal
		Mohammed Taslimuddin (1943–2017) MP for Kishanganj	25 May 2004	22 May 2009	4 years, 362 days
		K. V. Thomas (born 1946) MP for Ernakulam	29 May 2009	19 January 2011	2 years, 51 days	Indian National Congress	Manmohan II
		Raosaheb Danve (born 1955) MP for Jalna	27 May 2014	6 March 2015	283 days	Bharatiya Janata Party	Modi I		Narendra Modi
		C. R. Chaudhary (born 1948) MP for Nagaur	5 July 2016	30 May 2019	2 years, 329 days
		Raosaheb Danve (born 1955) MP for Jalna	31 May 2019	7 July 2021	2 years, 37 days		Modi II
		Ashwini Kumar Choubey (born 1953) MP for Buxar	7 July 2021	9 June 2024	2 years, 339 days
		Niranjan Jyoti (born 1967) MP for Fatehpur
		B. L. Verma (born 1961) MP for Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha)	10 June 2024	Incumbent	1 year, 135 days		Modi III
		Nimuben Bambhaniya (born 1966) MP for Bhavnagar

See also

• Department of Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection (Tamil Nadu)
• Ministry of Co-operation

References

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

1. "Dept of Consumer Affairs – Overview". Dept of Consumer Affairs. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.