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Journalism of Courage
Amidst the cacophony and shifting winds of the Uttar Pradesh election, spread over seven phases and one-and-a-half months, the one constant has been the support for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna (PMGKAY), launched during Covid.
On February 20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked the ration scheme in his speech in Hardoi, saying people were saying they have had “Modi ka namak” and couldn’t betray him.
While the popularity of the ration scheme runs across the state, the endorsement of it is even stronger in eastern UP, more backward than the western and including migrant hubs hit the hardest by fall in incomes post-Covid. At many places, people who say they will vote for the BJP say they do not care for the person the party has fielded.
The Opposition’s argument that this new ration scheme will end come March, as per the announcement the government has made, is not cutting much ice with the beneficiaries.
In Belwa Karkhana Bazar of Kushinagar district bordering Bihar, Girdhari Madesiya, 52, who owns a small confectionary shop, says he ran up big losses during the pandemic lockdown. The only other source of earning for the family of five is a 3-bigha plot where the Bania family grows sugar. But the yield too has been low. Explaining why he will vote for the BJP, Madesiya says: “Thoda takleef toh hua raha, lekin Modiji, Yogiji kaam bahut achcha kare hain (Yes, we suffered, but Modi and Yogi have done good work).”
Elaborating, he says: “We are getting 50 kg of free ration, Rs 2,000 under the PM Kisan Samman Yojana. Aur kya chahiye (what else do we need)?”
Suganti Devi, 60, who has been listening, shouts out from across the road: “Sab Modiwa kar raiyele (It’s Modi who has done all this).” Her husband is a daily wager, but the free ration means she doesn’t have to worry about what her children and grandchildren will eat, she says.
On the local BJP candidate, Suganti says: “I don’t know all that. I only know Modi, Yogi.”
Asked how the new ration scheme was different from the one already in place, Giridhar’s wife says: “Earlier, we would get ration only once a month and we paid Rs 75. Oil, salt and chana were not a part of it but they are now. The quality of the grain is also better.”
* The scheme
About 16 lakh metric tonnes of foodgrain is being provided per month free of cost to 3.61 crore ration cards under two schemes – the PMGKAY and the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. Apart from funds from the Centre for the same, the UP government is spending Rs 950 crore per month.
There are two kinds of cardholders who fall under the schemes – Antyodaya and Priority House Hold (PHH) cardholders. While subsidised ration under the NFSA is an ongoing process, the PMGKAY was launched during the Covid lockdown, in April 2020. The first two phases of it lasted from April to November 2020, and the ration included 5 kg of wheat and rice and 1 kg of chana. Then it was revived from May to November 2021, while the current extension started in December 2021 and is to continue till March 2022.
* The benefits
Under the NFSA, Antyodaya (the poorest of the poor) and PHH ration cardholders (covering families with annual income below Rs 2 lakh in rural and Rs 3 lakh in urban areas) are provided 35 kg of grains – 20 kg of wheat and 15 kg of rice – per month per card.
Under the usual course, this ration is provided not free but at a subsidised rate of Rs 3 per kg of wheat and Rs 2 per kg for rice. The UP government is providing it for free.
Since the beneficiaries of both are almost the same, it effectively means people get ration twice a month – under the PMGKAY and then under the NFSA.
* The reach
There are 3.61 crore ration cards in UP, about 41 lakh of them Antyodaya cardholders and remaining PHH. While about 7.50 lakh metric tonnes of grain is provided to these cardholders across UP under the PMGKAY per month, over 8 lakh metric tonnes is distributed under the NFSA. Sources in the state Food and Civil Supplies Department put the total number of beneficiaries at an estimated 14.96 crore (or over 60% of the population).
* The difference in UP
While both the schemes are being implemented across the country, in UP, the state government made changes in December 2021 – just ahead of the polls — to ensure extra benefits. These included making the entire subsidised ration under the NFSA free and additionally providing 1 lt of refined oil and 1 kg of salt per household. Sources said this is costing about Rs 950 crore additional burden to the state exchequer.
* The Modi-Yogi association
The reason the scheme has come to be associated with the PM and CM is largely because, until the notification of elections, when the model code kicked in, the packets of “free refined oil, free salt and free chana” carried the pictures of Modi and Adityanath.
