Don't divide people on BPL/APL lines: Karat

CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today called for an immediate end to the "division" of people on the lines of below poverty line, above poverty line, and advocated for universal Public Distribution System (PDS).
"Now the people are being divided and are given ration cards on the lines of BPL, APL and Antyodaya, which should be stopped immediately," Karat said at a meeting of the party's Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha here.
"We demand that the government bring the Food Security Bill during the budget session, providing 90 per cent of the population in the country with 35 kg grains per family every month. The rest ten per cent of the population can afford to purchase, anyway," he said.

"We have submitted a memorandum, having four crore signatures, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding several issues, including end to the cash transfer scheme for PDS, making it a universal system," Karat said.
He ridiculed the Congress-led UPA's proposal to provide rice at Rs 3 per kg when many states are providing for one rupee or two rupees.
Karat demanded sincere implementation of the Forest Rights Act to the forest dwellers, "easing their livelihood to some extent in the face of spiralling prices."
"According to the Central data, Tripura tops the list among the states implementing forest rights act... Now our struggle will be to provide house sites for the poor," he said.

The CPI(M) would announce its further action plan "in the interest of the people" on March 19 when all the four Jathas from Kanyakumari, Kolkata, Mumbai and Amritsar reach Delhi for a rally there, he added.