THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan to increase the quota of rice and other foodgrain to the state taking into account its peculiar social and economic conditions.
In his letter to the Union Minister, Pinarayi said the Central allocation for Kerala has been further cut short after implementation of National Food Security Act.
In 1977, the state received 16.2 lakh tonnes of foodgrain in the wake of the implementation of the targeted public distribution system. He said the state could manage due to additional allocation. If the additional allocation is also taken into account, the state used to get 16 lakh tonnes of foodgrain, the Chief Minister said. Pinarayi pointed out that Kerala’s allocation further diminished when Food Security Act was mechanically implemented.
As per estimates, 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population should have come under the priority category as laid down in Right to Food Act. However, only 48 per cent of the population in Kerala comes under its ambit, he said.
“A situation will arise where the allocation of 16 lakh tonnes would get reduced to 14.25 lakh tonnes. This will wreck the state’s public distribution system,” Pinarayi said.
Stating that Kerala was a foodgrain deficit state, the Chief Minister said the rice produced in the state would not meet even 10 per cent of its requirement. “Usually, the state’s allocation is decided on the basis of the last three year’s utilisation of the share provided by the Centre. However, the additional allocation is not taken into account. This puts the state at a disadvantage,” Pinarayi pointed out.
The Chief Minister also said the Centre has not taken into account the 35 lakh migrant workers in the state who are also entitled to foodgrain.
Pinaryi urged the Union Minister to ensure that state’s additional allocation should continue till a fair share for the state is finally arrived at. He also demanded allocation of rice at subsidised prices for Above Poverty Line (APL) category.