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NEW DELHI: States, which kick off purchasing wheat and paddy this week, have estimated procurement of another 40 million tonnes this season, as against 35 million tonnes a year ago, which will more than adequately fill up silos where stocks may have depleted due to the government’s decision to provide an additional quota of five kg of grains, free of cost, to 80 crore poor.With some part of the rice procured during the last season yet to enter Food Corporation of India’s warehouses and the fresh procurement, stocks in July may hit 85-90 million tonnes, as against the buffer norms of over 41 million tonnes for that time of the year.In any case, it is the much-criticised “excess stock” of grains, dubbed unmanageable by experts just a few months back, that has come handy as the Centre rolls out one of the biggest ever welfare programmes aimed at ensuring that the poor do not go hungry during the lockdown.“There is no need to worry as the stocks that we have are more than sufficient to meet the requirement in the coming months,” government sources told TOI.At the start of the month, stocks with FCI were estimated at 55.5 million tonnes — over two-and-half times more than that of the stock which the corporation needed to maintain at 21 million tonnes.The buffer norms, which have been in place since the fourth five-year plan, are dynamic and vary depending on the flow of grains. The norms factor in the requirement to supply 5 kg per person under the Food Security Act— assuming a daily intake of 400 grams for a hardworking male in rural areas— and other welfare schemes along with the need to maintain a strategic reserve. So the monthly requirement adds up to around 4.6 million tonnes. The additional requirement of over 4 million tonnes due to the PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojna (PMGKAY), which is in place for three months, will increase the demand to around 8.5 million.An expert panel which had fixed the buffer had assumed that the government could import grains in case of an emergency, which is not a possibility in the current situation.“Can you imagine what would have been the situation if we had no excess stock? In the three months, about 10 million tonnes of extra rice will be provided to states. This will also help us create some empty space to store the fresh procurement of rice,” said a source.While states kick off procurement through mandis, with tokens being handed to farmers in several states to avoid crowds in mandis, FCI has been dispatching record amount of grains to meet the additional requirement. It has transpored more than 1,000 train loads (rakes) carrying about 3 million tonnes of foodgrains during the lockdown period and it has unloaded about 950 rakes carrying about 2.7 million tonnes in various states.Food ministry said on an average FCI has been loading and unloading about three lakh tonnes daily since the start of lockdown, which is almost double its normal average.