The proposed targeted public distribution system is unlikely to become operational before December, as the government is waiting to know how much grain the nation produces this year before launching the scheme. Prouction figures for Punjab may not be in until December.
A member of the six-member committee appointed by the United Front steering committee told Business Standard on Sunday that, even though food production this year had been a record high, the government could not afford to meet the additional demand as suggested by the steering committee.
Members of the United Front steering committee wanted the proposed quantum of 10 kg of foodgrains to be supplied through the new public distribution system should be increased. The present foodstock will not be able to meet this demand. We will have to wait till December, by which time the next crop will be ready and we will be in a position to plan accordingly, he said.
The six-member committee, which was supposed to submit a report to the steering committee by September 6, has not met even once.
Besides the problem with the present foodstocks, states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have expressed reservations about the new scheme.
Incidentally, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is a member, has reportedly said that new ways would have to be found to implement the proposed scheme in his state, where 20 kg of foodgrains were already being given to families below the poverty line. He wanted no cut in the centres allocaction of foodgrains to states where a system was already operational.
Some other United Front members said that the implementation of the new scheme would also be problematic in such states also where the number of people below poverty line have not been identified.
Traders will take advantage of such a scheme and lift foodgrains meant for people below the poverty line only to sell them at exorbitant prices, a steering committee member said.
Members of the committee are Union ministers P Chidambaram, Chaturanan Mishra, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Naidu and Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mohanta.
