Failed to procure adequate rice, the state to credit money to Anna Bhagya beneficiaries’ accounts

Unsuccessful to obtain the required quantity of rice for its flagship scheme Anna Bhagya, the Siddaramaiah’s Karnataka Government decided in the state Cabinet meeting on Wednesday to credit money worth 5kg. of rice at Rs. 34/- per Kg. to the beneficiaries’ accounts under one of the five poll guarantees issued by the Congress.CM Siddaramaiah said, “As a temporary arrangement and to keep our poll promise words, we have decided to deposit cash to the beneficiaries' accounts. As a sufficient quantity of rice will be arranged, the cash distribution will be stopped and rice will be distributed then.”Rs.34/- per kg. is the price usually the government purchases rice from the Food Corporation of India. KH Muniyappa, the Minister of Food and civil supplies said beginning from July 1st, each member in families below the poverty line (BPL) will get Rs. 170/- cash transfer in their bank account instead of an additional 5kg. of rice.

Muniyappa informed that if there are five members in a family and they are registered in the BPL card then Rs. 850/- would directly be transferred to the head of the family’s bank account through direct benefit transfer. HK Patil, Law, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister said that 95% of the beneficiaries have completed their e-KYC formalities so the beneficiaries' bank accounts will easily be recognized. Blaming the Congress, former CM Basavraj Bommai said, “Per kg. rice costs Rs.50-Rs.60 in the market, whereas Congress is giving merely Rs. 34/- per kg. With every promise Congress is going back on its words. ”It is important to mention that Congress had promised to distribute an additional 5kg. of rice per month along with the 5kg. of rice being given by the Central Government for free. The Karnataka government is in need of 2.28 lakh tonnes of rice to give 5 kg rice to the families of BPL.From Thursday, the Karnataka government has decided to go for an open market tender for getting rice in which any eligible establishment can take part. Muniyappa blamed the Union Government for not giving rice in the open market despite having an adequate quantity of rice stock. “The state has come to this decision as an alternative option because of the malicious politics played by the center,” blamed the Minister. Earlier, to procure rice for the scheme Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Food and civil supplies minister KH Muniyappa met officials in this regard of the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF), the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nafed), and Kendriya Bhandar. Also, CM Siddaramaiah approached the states like Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh as well. But these states too did not have adequate quantities of rice and their rates are also very high. Seeing the inadequate stock of rice, the state congress government was planning to postpone the scheme but now decided in the cabinet meeting to credit the amount as an alternative option.