A solution on the table
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s proposed cut-price canteens could help lessen urban distress
When the Yogi Adityanath government began the controversial “anti-Romeo” drive, many — fearing vigilantism — remarked that the CM should instead spend his energies on devising an ‘anti-hunger’ drive. It seems the CM has heard them: The UP government is planning to start cut-price canteens for the poor. Under the ‘Anapurna Bhojnalya’, the government will provide meals priced at ₹ 3 and ₹5 respectively. The idea of such a scheme is not new: Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav launched a pilot project for providing subsidised meals to labourers at construction sites. However, it did not take off.
While the Uttar Pradesh government has not come out with the final plan for cheap canteens, logistically speaking, the outlets would probably be in the urban areas, at least in the initial phase. In fact, targeting the urban poor is of critical importance since the overwhelming focus in India seems to be on the rural poor. But increasingly urban poverty is becoming a serious problem across the world. This trend is especially pronounced in India, where the World Bank estimates that up to 55% of people lived in urban settings in 2010, far more than the official rate of 31%. The problem is that while people come to cities hoping for employment and a better quality of life, most end up with low-wage jobs in the unorganised sector, and live in slums, which have little or no access to basic services such as water, sanitation, power and waste management.
Reports also suggest that a higher proportion of rural residents are covered by social safety nets than urban ones. For the urban poor, expenses on food comprise a large share of their total expenditure, but they are mostly dependent on the vagaries of informal employment. In such a scenario, putting a safety net in place for the urban poor, as the Uttar Pradesh government is planning, is a positive move, which, if implemented properly, can work wonders to alleviate poverty.