Cong not committed to working for the poor: Punjab minister

Congress is not serious about mitigating the woes of the weaker sections and the UPA government it leads has done little in the nine years of its tenure to suggest it had a pro-poor focus, alleged Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
Referring specifically to the national food scheme which has recently been promulgated by the Centre, he said that the timing of the launch of the programme itself indicated that it was nothing but a populist measure designed to win votes.
The state revenue and public relations minister was addressing a rally at Chogawan here.
Majithia described the draft food Bill as being a poor carbon copy of the SAD-BJP government's successful 'Atta-Dal' scheme, but pointed out that the proposed 5kg of rice, wheat or millets per family which the central programme aims to provide would serve no purpose.

The Parkash Singh Badal government in the state, on the other hand, has been providing 35kg wheat and 4kg dal to more than 16 lakh families in the state since 2007 to enable them to have two square meals, Majithia said.
Talking about the dismal economic scenario in the country, Majithia said that although Punjab was trying hard to woo investors, the Centre's plan to extend economic packages to neighbouring Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand would be greatly detrimental to the state.