Delhi launches Food Security

The UPA government’s “game-changing” food security programme, while still awaiting a vote in parliament, was on Tuesday rolled out in Congress ruled Delhi, Haryana, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh on former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s 69th birth anniversary.
Other Congress states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan are yet to complete the logistical processes whereas in Karnataka, the model code of conduct in face of two Lok Sabha byelections prevented implementation.
The food security programme when implemented all over the country will be the biggest of its kind in the world with the government spending roughly Rs 1,25,000 crore per year on supply of about 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to around 67% of the population.
In Haryana, the government estimates the food programme would benefit more than 1.26 crore people in the state. Chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda began with distributing foodgrains to scores of beneficiaries from Panipat. Half of Haryana’s population would benefit directly from the scheme which would fetch them rice, wheat and coarse grains at subsidized rates of Rs 3, Rs 2, and Re 1 per kg. Besides, 12.84 lakh BPL families would get two kg sugar per month at Rs 13.5 per kg per family. In Guwahati, CM Tarun Gogoi said all families with annual income of less than Rs 1 lakh in Assam will gain from the scheme. Government officials said a population of 2.25 crore will get subsidized food in Assam.
In Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Nabam Tuki said the Centre had earmarked 66.3% of rural and 51.55% of urban population in the state to be covered. In Kerala, the programme wasn’t implemented since the government wants the Centre to assure that the allotment of food grains and its price at which it is now distributed will be protected. “PDS covers whole of Kerala. If the scheme is strictly implemented, only 46.50% will be covered. This is not acceptable to us,” said Anoop Jacob, Kerala food and civil supplies minister. The state has been providing rice at Rs 1 a kg for 15 lakh families and at Rs 2 a kg for 40 lakh households, lower than Rs 3/kg envisaged under the act.
Maharashtra, a larger state, too, faces problems in immediate implementation as the groundwork isn’t complete, as does Rajasthan, where the survey to identify the beneficiaries is yet to begin. In Karnataka, 88 lakh beneficieries have been identified so far with the implementation of the scheme having to await the completion of Lok Sabha byelections in Bengaluru (rural) and Mandya.