Back
Tamil Nadu
Rs. 2 a kg rice keeps hunger at bay for households of poor
| The scheme, implemented through the Public Distribution System, has been the panacea at a time when essential commodities have registered a sharp rise in the open market, writes R. Ilangovan |
Total No. of rice cards in the State: 1.86 crore
Total No. of rice cards in Salem district: 8,87,423
Beneficiaries: Women emerging from a ration shop after buying rice under the State Government’s Rs. 2 a kg scheme. —
Need to be polished: The consumers claim that the grain, many times, emanates foul smell.
Amid fears of the spiralling prices, the Tamil Nadu Government’s ambitious Rs. 2 a kg. rice scheme has emerged as the mainstay of the livelihood by literally keeping the hunger at bay for the households of poor and downtrodden and low income groups in the State.
The ‘two-rupee-rice scheme, implemented through the Public Distribution System (PDS), has been the panacea at a time when essential commodities have registered a sharp rise in the open market thus eluding the grasp of the purchasing power of the deprived.
The rise has eroded into the wages of the poor and downtrodden forcing them to depend totally on the state PDS, which attempts to control the prices of essentials of mass consumption with heavy subsidies to benefit the targeted population who live in villages and hamlets and in slums in towns and cities.
A majority of those who buy this Rs. 2 rice are those who are living below the poverty line.
The price hike has hit them very hard, says a social activist in Salem district, which is highly labour-intense. A cross section of the labour population endorses these claims.
A construction worker, Arjun, who commutes daily to Salem from a suburban taluk town Omalur for a daily wage of Rs. 110 says that he and his family have been surviving mainly on the Rs.2 per kg rice. Even the last quality rice in open market today costs Rs. 17, he points out. His family has five mouthsfor which a minimum of 30 kg a month is needed.
He buys 20 kg at a cost of Rs. 40 from his village PDS outlet, while procuring the rest from the open market. His monthly income of Rs. 3,200 includes a recurring expenditure of Rs. 400 for house rent, Rs. 300 for travelling expenses,
Rs. 300 for medical expenses and Rs. 2,000 for buying other essential commodities. This is possible when I am assured of a minimum 25 days work a month, he says.
Mathaiyan, an agriculture labourer, of Kottametupatti village vouchsafes it. At least we can afford to buy the rice and keep the hunger at bay, he says. But the scheme has some inherent shortcomings, which could be eliminated, they feel.
The consumers of the Rs. 2 rice claim that the grain, at many times, emanates foul smell. It has to be polished for Rs. 4 a kg in local rice mills before it could be consumed, says a village woman. They feel that the cost ratio of the Rs. 2 rice thus works out to Rs. 6 diluting the schemes very objective.
The experts in PDS say that for the past several years the price difference of rice between the average open market and the PDS has remained at Rs. 6. But it has now widened to Rs.11, which makes the PDS a much sought after one at this time of food crisis.
The State has 1.86 crore rice cards under this scheme in which Salem district has 8.20 lakh rice cards.
© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu