The Karnataka government’s decision to convert the promised Anna Bhagya scheme to a direct benefit transfer temporarily has brought into focus the limits of a State government’s policy intervention on a crucial matter such as food security.
A serious problem
Under Anna Bhagya, the government had envisaged the provision of five kg of free rice per person per month to 4.42 crore beneficiaries, including 45 lakh Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cardholders, 3.58 crore Priority Household (PHH) cardholders, and 39 lakh cardholders belonging to Karnataka’s own category of PHH. This was in addition to the regular entitlements to the beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The State would have required around 2.3 lakh metric tonnes of rice every month to meet this commitment. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) had agreed on June 12 to supply the quantity under the Open Market Sale Scheme-Domestic (OMSS-D) for July, but the Centre had a different plan. Anna Bhagya, which was to be launched on July 1, ran into a serious problem on June 13 when the Union Food Ministry discontinued the sale of rice and wheat under OMSS-D to all State governments, with exceptions. Karnataka had planned to utilise OMSS-D to implement the scheme, which was one of the five pre-poll guarantees of the Congress party.
