‘Indira food kit’ to replace five kg rice under Anna Bhagya scheme

Considering the misuse of rice being supplied to beneficiaries of the public distribution system (PDS) and to ensure better diversity in consumption, the Karnataka government on Thursday decided to provide “Indira food kit” to about 1.26 crore households in the State in lieu of the five kg rice being provided under the Anna Bhagya scheme currently.

The kit will benefit about 4.48 crore population holding below poverty line (BPL) cards and will include tur dal, oil, sugar and salt.

Additional cost

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil told presspersons in the post-Cabinet meeting briefing that tender would be invited soon for the supply of food items other than rice. He said that the new scheme could cost an additional ₹61.19 crore to the exchequer, which was approved by the Cabinet.

Acknowledging that the decision was based on reports of widespread misuse of rice being supplied through the PDS, Food and Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa told presspersons that surveys showed the misuse of rice being supplied, and feedback from beneficiaries provided insights to the need to replace five kg rice supply with food items.

“About 90 % of the surveyed felt that other food items would help the households and will add to nutrition. The government also felt that the quantum of rice could be high. The misuse was also noted,” he said

The Congress government, which promised an additional five kg rice under Anna Bhagya along with the five kg rice supplied by the Centre ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls, could not supply rice initially and provided ₹170 per person per month in lieu of rice as the Centre refused to supply the required quantum of rice for the Anna Bhagya scheme.

Since last year, as the Centre resumed supply, the DBT of ₹170 was withdrawn and rice supply had commenced. However, large scale diversion of rice and misuse by beneficiaries had also been reported.

Food kit

Providing details about the new project, the Minister said that the quantum of food kit will be dependent on the size of the family. “Quality and quantity will be ensured in the supply of food kit and transparency will be maintained,” he said, adding that the current allocation would be enough to switch from supply of rice to the other food items since it is expected to cost a similar amount.

Subject to family size

According to him, a household consisting of one or two persons would get half kg of each item whereas a family comprising three to four persons will one kg each while families with five or more persons will get one and a half kg of each item.

As per data provided by him, of about 1.26 crore households holding BPL cards, about 32.56 lakh households have one or two persons totalling to about 53.27 lakhs, about 63 lakh households have three to four persons totalling to about 2.26 crore and about 30 lakh households have five or more persons totalling to about 1.69 crore.

Mr. Muniyappa said that further details would be spelt out in a week’s time.