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Delhi government launches cash-transfer scheme; activists take out dhikkar rally-Prakhar Jain
-Tehelka

While Delhi government says it will eliminate leakages in the supply chain of food distribution, activists say it will take away the rights of the poor who require food entitlements rather than cash

When Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit fumbled a bit in front of 5,000 people while delivering her speech at the launch of Annshree Yojna, the audience let out a collective gasp and began murmuring loudly. Dikshit had accidentally declared that Rs 400 would be transferred to every family per month under the scheme instead of Rs 600 announced earlier. The audience simply did not know how to react as many of them were already skeptical about the measly sum being doled out to them in place of ration. In addition to that, Dikshit’s faux pas left them guessing whether if the Delhi government suddenly had a change of heart.

However, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi corrected Dikshit’s figures and inaugurated the cash-for-food Annshree scheme. Four lakh poor families, who do not have access to subsidised ration distributed through Public Distribution System (PDS), would be given a cash transfer of Rs 600 directly into their bank account every month under the scheme. “Yeh UPA aur Congress ke hamdardi ka saboot hai (This is a symbol of UPA and Congress’ sympathy towards poor),” declared Gandhi explaining that that the scheme aims not to become an alternative to PDS, but to expand its benefit to those who are out of the PDS system.

Lauding the direct cash transfer scheme, Gandhi said, “It would ensure that money meant for scholarship, pension, MGNREGA and social benefit schemes would reach directly in the hands of people without any delay.” She also made it clear that food and fertilizer subsidy hasn’t been included under direct cash transfer scheme and reiterated her commitment towards bringing a Food Security Bill so as to ensure that “no one stays hungry”.

Sitting amidst the crowd and watching the inauguration of Annshree, Shyam Lal, a 45-year-old rickshaw puller from Mangolpuri, was not amused by Gandhi’s assurance. With a helpless face, he narrated his story about how he cannot work elsewhere because of losing four of his fingers in an accident five years back and how a ration card can solve all his problems. He says that he has tried many times to get a card made, but backed out when middle-men started demanding Rs 3000. Usha, his wife, says, “How can we buy ration for entire family with just Rs 600 when flour costs Rs 20 per kg and rice costs Rs 15 per kg?”

Not very far from Thyagraj stadium, at Parliament Street, a group of people led by various noted economists and activists, took out a rally against replacement of food entitlements with cash-subsidies. “Delhi government has failed to provide ration to all the poor and is now giving them cash-transfers which is hardly adequate and not indexed with inflation,” said Anjali Bhardwaj, an activist with NGO Satark Nagrik Sangathan, opposing the Delhi government’s Annshree scheme.

Also, participating in the protest was Munni Devi, a widow living in old Seemapuri with her three sons and a daughter. Her family is entirely dependent on the income from a tea shop run by her polio affected eldest son. Although she doesn’t have a ration card, she buys PDS ration from black marketers at high prices. Demanding that the government provides her with a ration card, she said, “If they start providing cash, I will have to buy rice and wheat from market whose prices are increased by the shopkeeper according to their whims.”

Shouting slogans against the government, the crowd of 1000 people from 11 states declared that they would not vote for the government if it doesn’t roll back its decision to provide cash as a replacement of subsidized ration. Nikhil Dey, an activist with National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, said, “If the government says that it doesn’t have any money (for welfare schemes), they should give us ration, which they have in plenty. It is a crime to not to do so when half of the children under age of five are malnourished. Give us cash as pension only when we get old; till then give us ration.”

Expressing his distrust towards cash-transfers, AK Shivakumar, a National Advisory Council member working under the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, said, “We have seen that the salary of Aanganwadi workers is not indexed with inflation, then how can we believe that the amount of cash-transfers would be linked to inflation? Only the salary of central government employees is linked to it.”  He also expressed his disappointment with the watered down version of the food security bill, which the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said she is committed to introduce.

The activist and economists also passed a resolution saying that they want a National Food Security Act with universal PDS system, quality Integrated Child Development Scheme, decentralized procurement of food grains and social security pension. Jean Dreze, an economist leading the protest, said, “We want ration cards along with oil, sugar, pulses, cereals and millets. We do not want to weave a new dream of cash-transfer. We want our old dream of universal PDS to be fulfilled.”

With inputs from Ankit Agrawal

Prakhar Jain is a Correspondent with Tehelka.
prakhar@tehelka.com