IPA Newspack
  • Home
  • now
  • politics
  • business
  • markets

IPA /

IPA Special

IPA Special

Free Food Supply To India’s Poor Won’t Help Eradicate Poverty

By Nantoo Banerjee

It is a pity that the government could not think of a better “new year gift for the country’s poor” than continuing to feed 81.35 crore Indians with free food grains for another year till December 31, 2023, under a 10-year-old National Food Security Act (NFSA), at a cost of over Rs.200,000 crore. In the process, the government admits that India’s poverty level continues to increase with the growth of its population. The union government enacted NFSA in July, 2013, giving legal entitlement to 67 percent of the population — 75 percent in rural areas and 50 per cent in urban areas — to receive highly subsidised food grains.

India’s population was 128.13 crore then.  The free ration scheme was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2020 under ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to help the country’s 67 percent poor population whose livelihoods were shuttered by a national lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. It was certainly a very thoughtful move on the government’s part at that point of time. There were four phases of lockdowns (between 25 March 2020 and 31 May 2020), and two unlock periods (1 June–31 July 2020) in India. By 2021, life  nearly turned normal.

However, giving-away anything for free is easy. It generally makes recipients highly happy. But, freebees carry a risk factor. Their withdrawal could make the donor quite unpopular among the gift recipients. The free food grains scheme was extended through the entire 2021 and 2022 probably because a number of India’s states, including West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, went for legislative assembly elections. The extension of PMGKAY through 2023 may have also made sense for the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled national government as nine more states are due for assembly elections during this year.

One will not be surprised if the scheme is even run through the next year, when the national election is due along with seven state assembly polls. The PMJKAY seems to have assumed a new purpose: that is to deny the opposition parties of taking advantage of a possible withdrawal syndrome among poor voters who will be deprived of free rations. In the process, the real issue leading to the enactment of NFSA appears to have gotten lost. Meanwhile, the government doles in support of the country’s so-called poor, represented by a static percentage (67 percent) of the population that’s growing every day, every month and every year, have overtaken its intention to eradicate poverty.

When NFSA was enacted in July 2013, less than a year before the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the country’s population was 128 crore. And, at 67 percent, it covered some 85 crore population. Interestingly, the act did not help the Congress party win the 2014 national election.  Now, India’s population is nearly 141.4 crore. That raises the number of the poor under the NFSA definition to 94.47 crore and not 81.35 crore as computed by the PMGKAY implementing authority. Under NFSA, food grains were to be made available at highly subsidised prices of Rs. 3/2/1 per kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains respectively for an initial period of three years from the date of commencement of the Act (July 13, 2013). Thereafter, prices were to be fixed by the union government from time to time. The government decided to continue with the above-mentioned subsidised prices under NFSA despite inflation and rising high open market prices of food grains. Sadly, NFSA has always been used as a political tool by the ruling parties in both the union and state governments. It operates more like an election agenda to reward the poor. Poverty eradication received less priority from the government.

This explains why so many so-called poverty eradication schemes have failed to make a dent on the number of the poor under NFSA over the years. The schemes include the National Food for Work Programme; Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana; Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana; Indira Awaas Yojana for Rural Housing; Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act; Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana; Rural Employment Generation Programme; Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana; Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana; Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U); Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) and Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana.

While PMAY-U is a flagship union government mission implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, PMAY-G was introduced to boost the “Housing for All” scheme by the end of 2022. The main aim of the PMAY-G scheme is to provide brick-built houses with some of the basic amenities. The scheme has already missed the execution deadline. It continues through the current year. In fact, none of the schemes achieved their prescribed lofty goals. High rates of rural and urban unemployment continue. The Consumer Pyramid Household Survey of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy showed the employment rate among Indian youth (15-24 years) at 10.4 percent in 2021-22 compared to 10.9 percent during the lockdown-hit 2020-21. The average unemployment rate in India at eight percent may be a grossly understatement. The quality of jobs presently offered in the government and other institutions is poor — mostly fixed salaried contract service.

NFSA may have succeeded in giving a kind of “food security” to the country’s rural and urban poor, but the real issue of providing jobs and livelihood to the bottom section of the society to tackle the high poverty rate remains a big challenge. Among the principal causes of unemployment in India are: the caste system, pervading virtually every aspect of life including the provision of certain categories of jobs; inadequate economic growth; rising population, especially among the poor; seasonal agricultural occupation; significant decline in the growth of the cottage and small industry sector affecting small investors and artisans; low rates of savings and investment; poor economic planning leading to imbalanced supply and demand of labour; and lack of job specialisation.

India totally lacks in providing a universal education system to its pupils with uniform curriculum and modern work skills. According to a study, nearly 33 percent of India’s educated youth are unemployed due to a lack of future skills. Addressing these issues are much tougher than providing free or highly subsidised food grains to an overwhelming number of India’s population (67 percent) helping politicisation of poverty. Interestingly, the government’s new education policy, based on “four pillars which are access, equity, quality and accountability,” does not address those burning issues leading to joblessness and poverty. (IPA Service)

Politics

Govt approaches Opposition to end parliament logjam

February 7, 2023
Politics

ED questions Rahul’s aide in TMC money laundering case

February 7, 2023
Politics

Tripura heads for triangular contest in assembly polls

February 7, 2023
Politics

BJP protest to seek Kejriwal’s resignation over ED filing

February 7, 2023
Happening Now

Siddaramaiah Hindutva vs Hindu remark sparks row

February 7, 2023
IPA Special

West Unlikely To Stop Fuelling Russia-Ukraine War Soon

February 6, 2023
IPA Special

BJP’s Reverses In Legislative Council Elections In Nagpur Is A Bad Omen For Ruling Alliance

February 6, 2023
IPA Special

Shocks That The Indian Economy Faced Since 2014

February 6, 2023
IPA Special

Nitish Kumar Is A Victim Of Trust Deficit Amongst His Coalition Leaders

February 6, 2023
Happening Now

Parliament adjourned amid Opposition protest on Adani row

February 6, 2023
Politics

Delhi Assembly fails to elect mayor even on third attempt

February 6, 2023
Politics

Another jolt to Bengal BJP as MLA joins Trinamool

February 6, 2023
Politics

Mann govt faces heat over sacrilege case

February 6, 2023
Politics

AAP to contest all seats in MP assembly elections

February 5, 2023
Politics

New turn in UP’s OBC politics as Maurya backs caste census

February 5, 2023
Happening Now

Video shows Chinese balloon being downed by US missile

February 5, 2023
Politics

Assam CM says child marriage crackdown to continue

February 5, 2023
IPA Special

BJY Has Improved Rahul’s Image To The Congress Supporters But That Is Not Enough

February 4, 2023
IPA Special

China Reopening Changing Market Dynamics Impacting Importers

February 4, 2023
IPA Special

Union Budget 2023-24: Kerala Again Cold Shouldered

February 4, 2023

An appeal

The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.
Click here to learn more

Share

Reply

  • 0
More on IPA

West Unlikely To Stop Fuelling Russia-Ukraine War Soon

February 6, 2023 4:24 pm | IPA Staff

By Nantoo Banerjee The Russia-Ukraine war will complete a full year on February 23, this year. And, there is no sign of the war coming...

IPA Special

BJP’s Reverses In Legislative Council Elections In Nagpur Is A Bad Omen For Ruling Alliance

February 6, 2023 4:22 pm | IPA Staff

By Sushil Kutty After the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government was forced out by the breakaway Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena in June 2022, revenge...

IPA Special

Shocks That The Indian Economy Faced Since 2014

February 6, 2023 4:21 pm | IPA Staff

By Dr. Gyan Pathak Under normal circumstances, comprehensive and wide-ranging reforms undertaken in the economy during the last eight years, would have accelerated India’s growth....

IPA Special

Nitish Kumar Is A Victim Of Trust Deficit Amongst His Coalition Leaders

February 6, 2023 4:19 pm | IPA Staff

By Arun Srivastava Within a week of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s vow that he “would prefer to die instead of having an alliance with...

IPA Special

West Unlikely To Stop Fuelling Russia-Ukraine War Soon

in IPA Special
Feb 6, 2023   ·  

BJP’s Reverses In Legislative Council Elections In Nagpur Is A Bad Omen For Ruling Alliance

in IPA Special
Feb 6, 2023   ·  

Shocks That The Indian Economy Faced Since 2014

in IPA Special
Feb 6, 2023   ·  

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Follow us on
Up Next: SC’s Demonetisation Verdict Fails To Consider Human Cost Of Ill-Fated Decision
©2020 -2021 India Press Agency, All Rights Reserved
Newspack by India Press Agency
logo
  • Home
  • now
  • politics
  • business
  • markets