The story so far: States have been looking at alternative ways of procuring wheat and rice in the aftermath of the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) quantity restrictions followed by the refusal to allow states to procure the two food grains through its Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS). On Wednesday, June 28, the Congress government in Karnataka announced that being unable to procure enough rice in the market at a reasonable cost in time to meet the needs of its free good grain distribution scheme for BPL families- the Anna Bhagya scheme, it had decided to temporarily give cash to the beneficiaries in lieu of the promised five kg of free rice.
Also read | No rice for Anna Bhagya scheme, Centre tells Karnataka
While the Centre has made it clear that the reason for first restricting supplies per bidder and eventually excluding states for the OMSS was to curb inflation and regulate supply, Opposition-ruled States such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have criticised the government for engaging in “politics” at the expense of marginalised beneficiaries of state welfare schemes.