NEW DELHI, October 1 — The Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, on Thursday formally expanded the statutory scope of the National Price Monitoring System (PMS) from 22 to 38 essential food commodities to strengthen real-time market surveillance ahead of the festive quarter.
The enhanced monitoring architecture integrates 16 additional daily food items—including essential spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander), jaggery, clarified butter (desi ghee), and key horticultural perishables—sourcing daily wholesale and retail price telemetry across more than 550 verified reporting centers nationwide.
Consumer Affairs officials underlined that granular, real-time market tracking directly empowers the Union Government to deploy preemptive fiscal and supply interventions via the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF), calibrate buffer stock releases through NAFED and NCCF, and curb speculative hoarding in wholesale mandis.
The statutory mechanisms of the Essential Commodities Act 1955, the operational parameters of the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF), the Consumer Protection Act 2019, buffer stock management dynamics, and food inflation containment measures constitute core syllabus components in UPSC Civil Services (GS-III: Indian Economy & PDS) and State PCS examinations.