The Hindu : Karnataka to seek fair distribution of grains

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 15, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Karnataka to seek fair distribution of grains

By S. Rajendran

BANGALORE JUNE 14. The State Government has decided to impress upon the Centre the need to ensure a fair distribution of foodgrains under the Food for Work programme to all the drought-affected States, and make a special allocation of foodgrains to Karnataka to produce animal feed.

The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, and the State's Special Representative in New Delhi, T.B. Jayachandra, told The Hindu here today that it was unfortunate that there was discrimination at a time when some States were in distress. They said Karnataka was in the grip of drought for two successive years, and with the delay in the Southwest monsoon, the Government was initiating alternative measures to tackle drought and meet the requirement for cattle and poultry feed.

Although the authorities here did not mention the names of States which were "favoured by the Union Government," they were obviously upset with "special treatment" given to Andhra Pradesh. While Karnataka was allocated only 6.5 lakh tonnes of foodgrains for the Food for Work programme last year against its request for 11 lakh tonnes, Andhra Pradesh was given 45 lakh tonnes. In the previous year, that State was given 34 lakh tonnes.

Mr. Krishna said that in a federal set-up, it was the duty of the Union Government to treat all States equally, irrespective of the political party which ran the governments. "The States and the Centre had to work hand in hand for initiating and implementing development works, and handling unforeseen situations such as droughts and floods. It is not that Karnataka is trying to make any special claim. The State is only seeking fair distribution. It is our sincere effort to help the people in distress, and the Union Government should support us in this endeavour."

Mr. Jayachandra said Karnataka had been discriminated against in the allotment of special rakes to transport foodgrains to the State. "Being the Special Representative, I have been in touch with the Railways on a daily basis. Of the 6.5 lakh tonnes allotted to the State, nearly one lakh tonnes of grain were yet to be delivered owing to the non-availability of rakes. In contrast, availability of rakes was not a problem for Andhra Pradesh, particularly since the Union Minister of State for Railways, Bandaru Dattatreya, is from that State."

He said he would approach the Union Minister for Agriculture, Rajnath Singh, and the Union Minister for Rural Development, Rajiv Prathap, shortly and seek special allocation of foodgrains stored in the open in parts of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. He had information that nearly 20 per cent of the foodgrain stocks with the Food Corporation of India were stored in the open due to non-availability of warehouses. The grains were bound to go waste with the onset of the monsoon, and Karnataka would like to seek an allocation in view of the shortage of animal feed. As such, a large portion of the foodgrain stock was not fit for human consumption, he added.

Karnataka feels that it is discriminated against in accounting for the foodgrains made available to it under the Food for Work programme. Under the rules, all States have to provide for the cash component of the programme (25 per cent), and the Centre provides the foodgrains component (75 per cent). As per reports available here, Andhra Pradesh pays for labour wholly in foodgrains, and saves a huge amount. The Centre has not objected to such violations of rules in the past two years. On the contrary, a close check is maintained on the implementation of the programme in the State.

Mr. Jayachandra said there were no plans at present to obtain fodder from any northern State. Contrary to the belief in certain sections of the administration that fodder could be obtained from Punjab and Haryana, transporting it was not easy due to the non-availability of rakes. It would be wiser to grow fodder near tanks and lakes, particularly where water was not used for irrigation, he added.

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