United Front Leaves Decision On Tpds To Steering Panel

The six-member United Front panel which was to decide on the quantum of increase in foodgrains to be supplied through the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) failed to take a decision yesterday. The matter was left for the steering committee.

However, the steering committee, which is scheduled to meet today, may not meet, as coalition convenor N Chandrababu Naidu left for Hyderabad in view of the blaze in the HPCL plant at Vishakhapatnam yesterday.

At the panel meeting, Union defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Assam Chief Minister P K Mahanta said a hike was necessary from the present 10 kg to 20 kg of foodgrain per month per family. However, other members objected to this.

Union finance minister P Chidambaram expressed his reservations on an increase in food subsidy by more than Rs 2,000 crore. He also expressed doubts about the foodstock available to meet the challenge next year.

He recalled that according to the recommendations of the Lakdawala committee, 30 per cent of the countrys population lived the below poverty line, which means that with a rise in population next year, there would be a consequent increase in the number of people below poverty line.

Chidambaram wondered if the country would be able to meet the additional demand for foodstocks after the increase in number of people below poverty line.

Naidu also objected on the implementation of the scheme in his state. He said that according to the Centres directive, 30 per cent of the population in his state lived below poverty line, whereas his information was that the figure was only 17-20 per cent.

Naidu 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 allocation of foodgrains to states where a system was already operational.

A senior leader on the committee has already indicated that the hike in quantity, if any, would be made operational from December. The government needs to know how much foodgrain has been produced before launching the scheme. Production figures for Punjab may not be in before December.

Members of the steering committee want the proposed quantum of 10 kg of foodgrains to be supplied through the new public distribution system to be increased. The present foodstock will not be able to meet this demand. We will have to wait until December, by which time the next crop will be ready and we will be in a position to plan accordingly, he said.

There is also a view that the implementation of the new scheme would pose problems in states where the number of people below poverty line have not been estimated.

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 panel are: Union ministers P Chidambaram, Chaturanan Mishra, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. Mishra could not attend yesterdays meeting as he was in Patna.