Mar 3, 2020
State Food Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said, “We are yet to receive a letter from the Centre (on implementation of the scheme). We have heard about the scheme and had differences of opinion on it…”
State Food Minister Jyotipriya Mallick said, “We are yet to receive a letter from the Centre (on implementation of the scheme). We have heard about the scheme and had differences of opinion on it…”
Under ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme, recipients can buy subsidized food grains from ration shops in any part of the Indian territory. The scheme is made to ensure that entitled people living below poverty line are deprived of their public distribution system (PDS).
Mallick said, “We started a state food security scheme, ‘Khadya Sathi’ (in 2018). We have completed the digitization process of ration cards and incurred an expanse of Rs. 200 crore. Can the Centre give us Rs. 200 crore? The Centre already owes us Rs. 5,000. Once the Centre clears the outstanding amount, we will think about joining the scheme.”
“Under the National Food Security (NFS) scheme, the West Bengal government is giving subsidized food grains to almost 5 crore people. But other than that, another 2 crore people, who had been previously excluded from the BPL list, are also getting the benefit of NFS. Moreover, tea garden workers in Junglemahal and Singur are also getting this facility,” said an official from the food department.
The Central government has extended time for the states and union territories till June 30, 2020 to implement the scheme. According to the central food minister Ram Vilas Paswan, 10 states namely ;Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura are providing portability of PDS entitlements.
Earlier, the state government had opted out of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogyo Yojana that provides free health care to the poor, and Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Niddhi, that gives Rs. 6,000 income support to every farmer’s family annually.