The Hindu : 'Antyodaya' scheme to be expanded

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 01, 2003

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National

'Antyodaya' scheme to be expanded

By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi April 30. Even as the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, plans to soon convene an all-party meeting to discuss the ``faulty'' Public Distribution System, the Centre today announced expansion of the ``Antyodaya Anna Yojna'' to cover 1.5 crore `poorest of the poor' below povertyline (BPL) families with an additional subsidy burden of Rs. 2640 crores. The total food subsidy bill now stands at Rs. 24,000 crores.

Announcing the decision during his reply to a calling attention motion in the Rajya Sabha, the Union Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs, Sharad Yadav said that under the ``Antyodaya'' scheme 35 kg of foodgrains would be provided at a subsidised rate of Rs. 2 per kg for wheat and Rs. 3 per kg for rice.

So far the scheme covered one crore `poorest of the poor'. The expanded Yojna will now cover 23 per cent of an estimated 6.52 crore BPL families in the country.

After facing three hours of Opposition onslaught for the failure of the PDS resulting in ``malnutrition and hunger deaths'', the Minister said in his reply that the expanded ``Antyodaya Yojna'' would now cover the most vulnerable sections such as old people, widows, disabled persons without families or societal support and the destitute sections of society.

While Opposition members pressed for a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss the PDS policy pursued by the Government, the Minister said he would request the Prime Minister to convene such a meeting as reaching subsidised foodgrains to the poor was a joint responsibility of the Centre and the States.

While associating himself with the members' concern at diversions, recycling and corruption in the PDS delivery system, Mr. Yadav said the system was 80 per cent functional. But it had to be reviewed and monitored from time to time for which the Ministry had set up a Task Force.

``We do not make the findings of the Task Force public, but discuss it separately with the Chief Ministers and it has made a difference. Not a single death from malnutrition has been reported from any State in the last three months nor has any State complained about the quality of foodgrains delivered to them,'' he said.

Initiating the discussion, Suresh Pachauri (Cong.) charged the Government with pursuing a PDS policy that had resulted in malnutrition and starvation deaths despite burgeoning stocks of foodgrains in FCI godowns.

When the Deputy Chairperson, Najma Heptulla remarked that instead of rats eating foodgrains in godowns, it could be given to children, Mr. Yadav intervened to assert that the mid-day meal had faced some problem but was now running smoothly.

A. Vijayaraghavan (CPI-M) said lofty schemes like the Antyodaya Yojna were announced on the Prime Minister's birthday but they were not implemented as they should be.

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