Milind Ghatwai

Related Stories The chill in summerCalling for a complete changeAway from the headlinesReaching out, in their own special wayA share of the airport pie

 Electoral compulsions have clearly not given the Madhya Pradesh government time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

In January, it waged a war against the Centre for supplying red wheat, which Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan described as “unfit for human consumption.” Three months later, it is distributing the same wheat under the Mukhya Mantri Annapurna Yojana with much fanfare.

Chief ministers of all the BJP-ruled states, including Narendra Modi and Vasundhara Raje Scindia, stars like Smriti Irani and other party stalwarts have taken part in launching the scheme at various locations across the state.

The government machinery is implementing scheme with collectors getting targets to ensure maximum turnout of the beneficiaries for the main function in the district headquarters.

Under the scheme, BPL families get wheat at Rs 3 per kg and rice at Rs 4.50 kg from fair price shops. The rates for these otherwise are Rs 5 and Rs 6.50 respectively. There are as many as 62.50 lakh BPL cardholders and the state government wants to reach out to every one of them.

Of course, they are not telling the beneficiaries that the wheat they are being given is the same that they had described as fit for animals just a few months ago. In a sign of defiance, Chouhan had ‘raided’ one of the godowns of the Food Corporation of India and declared the state government would procure wheat on its own and distribute it.

Keeping its promise, the government has gone about procuring wheat across the state giving the impression that it will be distributed among beneficiaries. It announced an a bonus of Rs 100 on top of the Rs 1,000 support price fixed by the union government.

A top bureaucrat admitted that the government has no alternative but to go with the inferior quality of grain because the newly procured wheat will be available for distribution only in July.

Madhya Pradesh is known for producing premium quality wheat but what the beneficiaries get through the public distribution system is far from satisfactory. Private players procure a major chunk of the wheat by paying much more than the support price.

People may be complaining over the quality of wheat but they are still buying it because it comes so cheap. In essence, the BJP government has only increased the subsidy on wheat and rice by Rs 2 each but it’s going to town as if its bearing the entire burden and passing the scheme as a gift in the times of rising prices. Actually, the Centre’s share of the subsidy is around Rs 10 per kg.

From inferior quality of imported wheat to reducing the quota of grains, the BJP has found enough ammunition in this issue to target the UPA government. It has accused the Centre of discriminating against the BJP-ruled state by cutting down the BPL quota of food grain.

The Centre gives grains for 41.25 lakh families, which means instead of the mandatory quota of 35 kg, BPL beneficiaries in MP get only 20 kg grains every month.