Budget 2023-24 has continued the trend of reduced spending on the social sector despite the ongoing economic crisis, which hit the country before the COVID-19 pandemic and has impacted those at the bottom of the pyramid the most, the Right to Food Campaign has charged. The Campaign, which is a collective of activists working in the field of food security, said the Government of India has massively reduced the allocation for major social security schemes.
It said while the need of the hour was to continue with the additional foodgrains being provided under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and to expand the Public Distribution System to include non-ration card holders and also distribute pulses and oils, the Budget has actually reduced the food subsidy allocation by over Rs 89,000 crore. As for the Rs 1.97 lakh crore that has been allocated, it said, this was barely enough to meet the requirements of the regular entitlements under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Another member Anjali Bhardwaj, who is also a founder of Satark Nagrik Sangathan, said while on the one hand ration entitlements have been halved, on the other hand, there is no provision for food security for those without ration cards in the budget. “The coverage under NFSA in terms of the number of the people entitled to have ration cards was determined on the basis of the 2011 census and was to be increased after the next census of 2021,” she said, adding that the government has, however, not undertaken the census on the pretext of COVID-19 though all other activities are fully underway.
Giving the example of the Ujjwala scheme, she said, though the government gave gas cylinders, it soon began increasing the price of gas which made refills prohibitively expensive for most households.
read more 08/02/2023