Journalism of Courage
Premium
This is an archive article published on January 13, 2023
Rice, sugar, cash: Tamil Nadu’s tradition of Pongal gift hampers
State governments every year hand out freebies to the people on Pongal. The practice of giving cash started under the DMK government in 1990, and J Jayalalithaa instituted the gift hamper scheme in 2014.
The distribution of cash, groceries, and clothes to all ration card holders has been an annual ritual in Tamil Nadu, and has been carried out unfailingly by both the DMK and AIADMK governments of the state. (Twitter/@MKStalin)
Listen to this article
Rice, sugar, cash: Tamil Nadu’s tradition of Pongal gift hampers
x
00:00
Earlier this week, the Tamil Nadu government began distributing hampers to eligible beneficiaries containing Rs 1,000 cash, along with gifts including rice and sugar, for the annual Pongal harvest festival. Chief Minister M K Stalin had last month announced the Pongal gift for more than 2.19 crore families at a cost of more than Rs 2,400 crore. The four-day festival will be celebrated from January 15-18.
The gift hampers are being distributed from fair price shops against tokens issued by the government, and long queues have been seen outside PDS outlets across the state throughout this week. The distribution of cash, groceries, and clothes to all ration card holders has been an annual ritual in Tamil Nadu, and has been carried out unfailingly by both the DMK and AIADMK governments of the state.
History of the Pongal gift hamper
The practice of giving people a gift for the Pongal festival started in 1990 under the DMK government of the late M Karunanidhi. Initially, a cash gift of Rs 100 was given only to pensioners; it was later increased to Rs 150 in 1998.
In 2014, when the late J Jayalalithaa was chief minister, when the Tamil Nadu Government launched the Pongal gift hamper scheme. At the time, the hamper consisted of Rs 100 and 1 kg of raw rice and sugar for ration card holders.
In 2019, the gift amount was raised to Rs 1,000 by the government of Edappadi K Palaniswami and, in 2021, just before the Assembly polls, the amount was raised to Rs 2,500 per family.
CM Stalin’s gift hamper this year
Story continues below this ad
Every year, the hamper consists of rice and sugar to make the traditional ‘sweet Pongal’; the other items in the hamper may, however, vary. For instance, last year Stalin’s government had included dhotis for men and saris for women along with some cash.
This year, the government is gifting 1 kg each of rice and sugar, and Rs 1,000 in cash. After requests from farmers, the government also included a stalk of sugarcane in the hamper.
The process of handing over tokens for the hampers usually begins about 10 days ahead of Pongal. This year it began on January 3, and continued till January 8. The chief minister inaugurated the scheme on January 9, and the distribution will continue until Friday (January 13).
Advertisement
Loading Recommendations...
Advertisement
Live Blog