Date:29/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/29/stories/2007092961410700.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Eventful journey for rice scheme

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The Rs. 2 a kg rice scheme being considered by the Rajasekhara Reddy Government is one of the three schemes N. T. Rama Rao announced after riding to power on the crest of an election wave in January 1983.

The rice subsidy scheme was dubbed by economists then as populist and a drain on the meagre resources of the exchequer. But, this did not deter both the major political parties from claiming credit for its implementation.

Party claims

The Congress claimed that it had implemented the scheme first. It said that K. Vijayabhaskara Reddy, who was Chief Minister for a brief period from September 20, 1982, to January 8, 1983, introduced a scheme for supplying rice to the poor at Rs. 1.90 a kg – ten paisa less than what NTR announced after coming to power.

NTR declared that the Telugu Desam Government would supply 25 kg. of rice at Rs 2 a kg to families living below the poverty line. The Congress Government, that was in power between 1989 and 1994, increased the price of rice at Rs. 3.50 per kg. Mr. Rama Rao came back to power in 1994 on the promise of reviving the Rs. 2 a kg rice scheme and introducing total prohibition. He sustained the scheme for about 18 months but his son-in-law N. Chandrababu Naidu, on assuming power in 1995, enhanced the price to Rs. 3.25 a kg.