India Today: New Delhi: Sunday,
May 05, 2013.
Despite being
the second-richest state in the country, after Goa, Delhi is unable to feed its
poor.
Last year the
Sheila Dikshit government had rolled out the 'Dilli Annashree Yojna' with much
fanfare. The aim was to provide food security to those living below the poverty
line. The government promised to provide cash benefits of Rs.600 each to around
6 lakh poor in the city.
However, an
RTI has revealed that till now only 7,220 people across 19 circles have
benefited from the scheme - though the Delhi government's food and supply
minister claims this figure is 62,500.
On December
15, the Delhi government had launched the scheme with an assurance that the
money to be transferred to the bank accounts of the needy would include arrears
from April 1, 2012. The money was meant for purchasing wheat, pulses and flour.
The
government had tied up with six major banks - with 827 branches in the city -
for implementing the scheme. The scheme facilitates the transfer of cash directly
to the beneficiaries using an Aadhar-enabled no-frills bank account, which can
be accessed only by the senior-most woman member of the household.
The
department of administrative reforms of the Delhi government had conducted a
survey to identify the number of people living below the poverty line.
The
department considered social, geographical and professional yardsticks while
conducting the survey.
The
geographical standard included people living in resettlement colonies, JJ
clusters and the homeless.
The social
standards included the ill, the elderly, and those families that have women and
children as earning members. People such as daily wage labourers, running
makeshift shops and rickshaw-pullers were included in the professional
standards.
Mission
convergence (Samajik Suvidha Sangam) conducted three surveys during
September-October 2008, April-August 2009 and March-December 2011,
respectively.
The
department included around 1,264,293 people from various groups. Out of these
574,428 persons were identified as the genuinely needy who were unable to earn
enough money to manage two square meals a day.
The people
identified were not getting benefits under any scheme of the government's
Public Distribution System (PDS).
"We have
recently added widows under Annashree Yojna. All widows are now getting an
additional Rs.600 under the Annashree Yojna. Altogether 62,500 persons are
benefiting from this scheme. We have already transferred the money to the bank
accounts of the persons with arrears," Haroon Yusuf, Minister for Food and
Civil Supplies Department, Delhi government, claimed.
"The
scheme was launched last year. The scheme is at an initial stage and we are in
a process of identifying the poor. As far as widows are concerned, they don't
need to have a BPL card and other documents to be eligible for Annashree Yojna.
We have given 500 forms to the 70 MLAs for identifying the poor. We are going
to include one lakh people very shortly," he said.
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