INDIA: Rs 600/month enough to feed family of 5

indiatimes.com

They listened to chief minister Sheila Dikshit in silence but couldn't hide their disbelief. Speaking on the occasion of the launch of Delhi government's cash-for-food programme, Annshree Yojana, on Saturday, Dikshit argued that Rs 600 - the cash subsidy - was adequate for buying the monthly "dal, roti and chawal" for a poor family of around five. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was on the stage at Thyagaraja Stadium to launch the scheme. Many of the voiceless beneficiaries - who had been herded into the stadium to witness the launch of the scheme which UPA believes will be a game-changer - couldn't swallow this glib remark. As they trooped out of the venue, long after the applause had died down, the women whom the scheme seeks to empower said they didn't need to do any sums to tell you that rations for families with five to seven members would come for Rs 1000-Rs 3000. Asked if Rs 600 was enough, women from a slum in west Delhi said they were under siege - illness, lack of shelter, inflation. The amount of Rs 600 was nothing but a 'sahara' (support), said Maya Devi. 'Cash will give people choice' "Something is better than nothing,"remarked others. Another woman, Ganga Devi, said she spends Rs 3000 on rations every month for a family of seven. "How can I manage it in Rs 600? This is just a support," she agreed. Radha from Rohini showed a bank passbook of her no-frills account and her Aaadhar-UID card to prove that she was indeed a beneficiary. Her husband, Ravi Singh, a daily wager stood next to her. Asked how the couple would use the money, Radha was candid. "I will spend it on the most urgent needs of the family," she said. Experts involved in the planning for the scheme feel that the Rs 600 subsidy will have to be eventually enhanced if one was to be realistic. The scheme seeks to empower the eldest woman of the beneficiary family with a no-frills account where the subsidy will be delivered every month based on the Aadhar-UID number as identity proof. Announcing that Delhi government had set aside Rs 200 crore for funding the Annshree subsidy, the CM said the scheme will ensured that no one goes hungry. "We got a voluntary organization to carry out a study in the target population to see if people wanted cash or ration. We found that 99% people wanted cash as women felt it would give them the freedom to buy what they need. For instance, some women said they could buy medicines if a family member was ill," Dikshit added. About 13,300 people will benefit from the scheme with immediate effect and the government has a target to register a total of 2 lakh beneficiaries. These are being chosen from a state survey of most vulnerable carried out in 2009. The scheme applies only to those who do not get the benefit of subsidized rations under PDS. All beneficiaries will get the subusidy from April 1, 2012 onwards. Cash transfer later in districts not prepared: FM If any of the 51 districts selected by the Centre for the rollout of the direct cash transfer programme from January 1 are not ready with their infrastructure by the end of this year, they will be taken up only later, finance minister P Chidambaram said in Alwar on Saturday. He was addressing concerns that the government seemed to be pushing ahead with a scheme that many local administrations were not ready for.