Click to play videoNew Delhi: A fact note circulated by the Agriculture Ministry reveals the Government’s reluctance to supply subsidised food grain. The Food Ministry has suggested slashing the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards and a reduction in the current allocation of food grains.
“There are differences between the Centre and the state... and these need to be sorted out,” says secretary Food and Civil Supplies, Bhagwan Sahai.
This has confirmed the worst fears of the people campaigning for the right to food since a decade and they call it minimalist.
“They have money but the point is these are some of the most unimportant people in the country,” says SC Commissioner on Hunger, Harsh Mandar.
But the biggest challenge for the Government is how to define who is poor.
“Justice Wadhva committee has recommended that the PDS quote be doubled,” says lawyer, Colin Gonsalves.
The right to food is meant to be a universal right for all the citizens of India. However, the Government by defining only a section of the needy as poor, is ensuring a majority will not have the right to food.
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