States slow on Antyodaya scheme

By Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI, AUG. 9. State Governments have been slow in implementing the Centre's Antyodaya Anna Yojna, which was announced with much fanfare on the Prime Minister's birthday last December.

So far 15 of the 28 States and Union Territories have completed the identification of the poorest of the poor families which qualify for getting 25 kg of foodgrains under the Public Distribution System at subsidised rates of Rs. 3 per kg for rice and Rs. 2 per kg for wheat. The Union Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies wants distinctive ration cards to be issued to the Antyodaya beneficiaries for fool-proof implementation of the programme.

The States and Union Territories which have begun or in the process of implementing the scheme include Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Punjab, Haryana, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Pondicherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu, Dadar and Nagar Haveli.

Significantly, States such as Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttaranchal have not yet begun implementation of the subsidised scheme for the poor.

The scheme was launched partially to clear the burgeoning food stocks which stand at 600 lakh tonnes today. Since March, the Centre has made allocations for 54 lakh families at 25 kg per family per month.

The offtake by this section of the people is reported to be higher than the 45 per cent and odd lifted by the below the povertyline population (BPL). The BPL category of beneficiaries are provided wheat at Rs 4.15 per kg and rice at Rs 5.65 per kg.

The States of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh as also the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have recently completed the process of identification of the poorest of the poor amongst the BPL families and issued ration cards. The Centre has together allocated to them 54,229 tonnes of rice and wheat under the scheme from July this year till May next year.

On December 25 last, the Centre had announced its plan to allocate foodgrains to one crore poorest of the poor families at subsidised rates. The scheme was meant to be implemented in two months. Initially, there were apprehensions about diversion of foodgrains that were so discounted, but so far lifting has been encouraging, sources said.

Last month, the Government also reduced the price of wheat and rice for the above the povertyline population to Rs. 6.10 per kg and Rs. 8.30 per kg respectively. This was done to improve offtake which was almost nil.

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