A START BUT MORE IS REQUIRED
In the Prime Minister’s sixth address to the nation, the announcement of an extension of Garib Kalyan
Anna Yojana until November of this year is a bold and commendable decision. Undoubtedly, it will help the weak, downtrodden and vulnerable population to survive under the strain of the present circumstances. All praises aside, however, this scheme covers only people with priority ration cards under NFSA. The Government records itself state that over 10 crore citizens who are in desperate need of aid don’t have the ration cards needed to get the required aid. The fundamental point is, in this dynamic pandemic situation, everybody who is in need should be aided irrespective of whether they possess a ration card or not. The only real way to ensure that nobody is left out at this time from the PDS is to universalise it, permitting anyone who needs rations to access them. Of course, there are pitfalls and downsides to such measures. The threat of duplication is real for instance, but we have technologies like Aadhaar Biometric, photo recognition methods, and we even have a technological capacity for implementing even more innovative methods swiftly. Will it be easy? No. But it is what needs to be done. Helping the last man in the line a country as populous as ours has never been easy but it is a challenge that must be embraced.
At a time like this, when food grain stocks are at a record high and people are facing the real possibility of hunger and starvation, the Government should ensure that anyone who needs ration is provided with a basic minimum amount for nutrition. They should also consider giving dal and edible oils as part of this monthly entailments. No one should die of starvation in our country. It would have been remarkable if the Government also announced financial succour for the needy, not the same as the stimulus check given by governments elsewhere but somewhat similar.
Such measures will help in economic revival by increasing demand, as this money would almost immediately flow back into the informal economy through immediate household spending. ..... RAVI TEJA, TELANGANA via email