BENGALURU: The State government has decided to decrease the amount of rice given free-of-cost in Anna Bhagya scheme from seven kgs to five kgs per person, in the budget. The move was to save the additional expense incurred by the State in the scheme as it was procuring two kgs of rice at `26 per kg, whereas 5 kg of rice supplied under the scheme is provided by the Central government at
`3 per kg.
Under the new scheme, toor dal supplied at a subsidised rate has also been reduced to 1/2 kg per person from one kg. At the same time, the state has decided to revert back to the old system of providing one litre of palm oil and one kg each of salt and sugar to each BPL cardholder.
The old system was discontinued in April 2017 and seven kg of rice and one kg of toordal was provided per person, due to the costs involved in procuring two kgs of rice, sugar and salt from the free market.
Anna Bhagya was the Siddaramaiah government’s flagship programme that sought to rid the state of hunger. Black marketeers have attempted to target the scheme several times in the past.