Minister for Food and Civil Supplies K.H. Muniyappa on Monday said the Centre should not discriminate against the State while extending the benefits under the public distribution system (PDS) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) since nearly 40 lakh BPL families are deprived of the food grains provided by the government of India and the same was being distributed to them by the State from its own resources.
“Karnataka has a population of nearly seven crores. About four crore people were getting the PDS benefits from the Centre. Nearly 40 lakh beneficiaries don’t get the benefits. When the Centre can extend PDS benefits to 86 crore people in the country, why are the 40 lakh families in the State deprived of the same,” the Minister asked.
Speaking at the “One Nation, One Ration Card” awareness drive organised by the Department of Food and Public Distribution at the KSOU convocation hall here, Mr. Muniyappa said he had raised this issue during his recent meeting with Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal.
The State had also sought ragi from the Centre as there has been demand for its PDS distribution in southern Karnataka. In the absence of rains this year in the State, the ragi production had dropped and supplies had been hit.
The Minister said he would like to appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Goyal from this platform to consider the State’s request and provide benefits to the remaining 40 lakh BPL families in the State. “I hope Mysuru MP Pratap Simha will convey the message to the Centre,” Mr. Muniyappa said.
New BPL cards
The Minister clarified that no new applications seeking BPL cards will be accepted until 2.95 lakh pending applications are verified and cleared. The process of issuing cards to those who had already applied for the cards after verification has started, he added.
He said the officers will be conducting physical inspection of the residences of the applicants and verify the records before approving the cards.
“There have been demands for issuing new APL cards and the same will be looked into,” the Minister said, adding that the APL card holders can avail rice under the Anna Bhagya paying ₹15 a kilo.
Refuted charges
While addressing the gathering, the Minister rejected the allegations of poor-quality rice being distributed to the PDS beneficiaries. “Don’t make baseless allegations against the government. Give me proof if there are any instances of poor-quality rice distributed in the State. I will personally take action on the matter. As we get rice directly from the rice mills, I don’t see any reason to doubt the quality,” he said, in response to an allegation made by a farmer leader sitting in the audience.
10,000 migrant population
With the State all set for rolling out the “One Nation, One Ration Card” policy, the Minister said nearly 10,000 migrant population residing in the State and employed in various professions can avail benefits under the Centre’s policy. A beneficiary from Bihar or Odisha can avail benefits in Karnataka under the scheme. There won’t be any new cards issued under the initiative. The existing cards of their states along with the Aadhaar card is sufficient to avail the benefit, he informed.
Minister in charge of Mysuru district H.C. Mahadevappa, and Mysuru MP Pratap Simha also spoke. MLA K. Harish Gowda, Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra and senior officials from the Centre from the food and public distribution in the State were present.
The inaugural session was followed by a presentation on One Nation, One Ration Card for the owners of fair price shops. They also interacted with the officials and got their doubts cleared on the new policy.
