| Agency Name: | Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution |
| Seal: | Government of India logo.svg |
| Picture Width: | 300 |
| Picture Caption: | South Block building, housing the Cabinet Secretariat |
| Formed: | 2 September 1946 |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of India |
| Headquarters: | Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi |
| Budget: | (2023–24 est.) |
| Minister1 Name: | Pralhad Joshi |
| Minister1 Pfo: | (Cabinet Minister) |
| Minister2 Name: | Nimuben Bambhaniya |
| Minister2 Pfo: | (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.
The ministry is divided into two departments, the Department of Food and Public Distribution and the Department of Consumer Affairs.
The objectives of the department are to ensure:
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, sugar and kerosene. 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.
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:
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.
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Prime Minister | Party | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rajendra Prasad | 15 August 1947 | 14 January 1948 | Jawaharlal Nehru | Indian National Congress | ||||
| 2 | Jairamdas Daulatram | 19 January 1948 | 13 May 1950 | ||||||
| 3 | K M Munshi | 13 May 1950 | 13 May 1952 | ||||||
| 4 | Rafi Ahmed Kidwai | 13 May 1952 | 24 October 1954 | ||||||
| 5 | Ajit Prasad Jain | 25 November 1954 | 24 August 1959 | ||||||
| 6 | S. K. Patil | 24 August 1959 | 1 September 1963 | ||||||
| 7 | Swaran Singh | 1 September 1963 | 9 June 1964 | ||||||
| 8 | Chidambaram Subramaniam | 9 June 1964 | 12 March 1967 | Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi | |||||
| 9 | Jagjivan Ram | 13 March 1967 | 27 June 1970 | Indira Gandhi | |||||
| 10 | Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed | 27 June 1970 | 2 May 1971 | ||||||
| Ministry of Food was renamed as Ministry of Agriculture with four departments, including the Department of Food[2] | |||||||||
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Prime Minister | Party | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Bhagwat Jha Azad | 14 February 1983 | 31 December 1984 | Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi | Indian National Congress | ||||
| 12 | Rao Birendra Singh | 31 December 1984 | 25 September 1985 | Rajiv Gandhi | |||||
| 13 | Kamakhya Prasad Singh Deo | 25 September 1985 | 27 January 1986 | ||||||
| 14 | P. Shiv Shankar | 27 January 1986 | 12 May 1986 | ||||||
| 15 | H. K. L. Bhagat | 12 May 1986 | 14 February 1988 | ||||||
| 16 | Sukh Ram | 14 February 1988 | 2 December 1989 | ||||||
| 17 | Nathuram Mirdha | 8 December 1989 | 10 November 1990 | V. P. Singh | Janata Dal | ||||
| (12) | Rao Birendra Singh | 21 November 1990 | 21 June 1991 | Chandra Shekhar | Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) | ||||
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Prime Minister | Party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kalpnath Rai | 18 January 1993 | 21 December 1994 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | Indian National Congress | |||
| 2 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | 21 December 1994 | 10 February 1995 | |||||
| 3 | 10 February 1995 | 16 May 1996 | ||||||
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Prime Minister | Party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | 21 June 1991 | 18 January 1993 | P. V. Narasimha Rao | Indian National Congress | |||
| 2 | A. K. Antony | 18 January 1993 | 8 February 1995 | |||||
| 3 | Buta Singh | 10 February 1995 | 16 May 1996 | |||||
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Prime Minister | Party | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | 16 May 1996 | 1 June 1996 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Bharatiya Janata Party | |||
| 2 | Devendra Prasad Yadav | 1 June 1996 | 21 April 1997 | Deve Gowda | Janata Dal | |||
| 3 | Inder Kumar Gujral | 21 April 1997 | 24 April 1997 | I.K. Gujral | ||||
| 4 | Chaturanan Mishra | 24 April 1997 | 10 January 1998 | Communist Party of India | ||||
| 5 | Balwant Singh Ramoowalia | 10 January 1998 | 19 March 1998 | Independent | ||||
| 6 | Surjit Singh Barnala | 19 March 1998 | 13 October 1999 | Atal Bihari Vajpayee | Shiromani Akali Dal | |||
| 7 | Shanta Kumar | 13 October 1999 | 1 July 2002 | Bharatiya Janata Party | ||||
| 8 | Sharad Yadav | 1 July 2002 | 22 May 2004 | Janata Dal (United) | ||||
| 9 | Sharad Pawar | 22 May 2004 | 19 January 2011 | Manmohan Singh | Nationalist Congress Party | |||
| 10 | K. V. Thomas | 19 January 2011 | 26 May 2014 | Indian National Congress | ||||
| 11 | Ram Vilas Paswan | 26 May 2014 | 8 October 2020 | Narendra Modi | Lok Janshakti Party | |||
| 12 | Piyush Goyal | 8 October 2020 | 10 June 2024 | Bharatiya Janata Party | ||||
| 13 | Pralhad Joshi | 10 June 2024 | Incumbent | |||||
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution