Cong wants speedy rollout of food scheme in its states

Within days of promulgating the food security Ordinance, the Congress on Saturday got into the act of ensuring “speedy implementation” of the scheme in the party-ruled states. Thirteen party chief ministers discussed nuances of the Ordinance with party president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. The party is intent on riding high on this into the poll year 2014. Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Sheila Dikshit announced the launch of the scheme in the capital on August 20, to commemorate late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary.

Haryana's Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the other CM to say the state would be ready to roll out the scheme from August 20.

Seniors say the party has realised the “key” to the food scheme is ‘implementation’, the domain of the states. “In the Ordinance, the states have to fix the criteria for eligibility and thereafter identify the beneficiaries. So, we had to say that to party-ruled states,” disclosed a leader. The party has little control over Opposition-ruled states and hopes once the scheme is implemented in Congress states, the rest will be pressured into implementing it.    

The import of the meeting was evident, with all party CMs, except for Uttarakhand’s Vijay Bahuguna, making it to the meet. Sonia Gandhi stressed the importance of  implementing the scheme in “letter and spirit.” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the concluding remarks while Food minister KV Thomas gave a detailed presentation.

Party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi was present in the meeting and was seen discussing intricacies of the Ordinance with state CMs, according to sources.

Several north-east states  raised the issue of ‘logistical difficulties’ like transportation.  

The other problem pointed out was many states were yet to complete the task of identifying beneficiaries.

Communications Department Head Ajay Maken said, “As it is the duration of an ordinance is six months, so all states will be expected to do so by then.”

Delhi again is the only state to have set up a Food Commission as mandated by the Ordinance for monitoring the scheme.

Maken said the Congress was not looking at the scheme as its sole game-changer. “In the past nine years of the United Progressive Alliance, the government has launched several social welfare schemes, the Right to Education, Right to Information, farmer loan waiver, etc. So this should not be seen in isolation”.

From Monday, spokespersons will be touring the country, visiting Opposition-ruled and Congres states to publicise the scheme.