Displaying a streak of maturity that he is not exactly famous for, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has chosen to avoid another ugly spat with the Centre with his announcement that the Delhi Government would drop the reference to the Chief Minister from the ‘Mukhyamantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojna’. The doorstep delivery of ration scheme was red-flagged by the Union Government just ahead of its proposed rollout, claiming that the subsidised food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) cannot be used for any State-specific scheme in the name of the Chief Minister. Listing out the reasons for rolling out the scheme, Kejriwal said it was his personal ambition for the past 20-25 years that the hardships faced by people in accessing food grain under the Public Distribution System (PDS) could be addressed. It is true that people face various difficulties in getting ration from the authorised shops and, in many cases, extra money is charged by the mafia for handing out the rightful beneficiaries their quota of ration. In a country that bears the burden of a quarter of global hunger with millions of undernourished people, the Delhi Government’s move is commendable. The Centre might have been on sound ground technically, but it really did derail the AAP Government’s ration delivery scheme.

Though the fight between the Governments went down to the wire, Kejriwal proceeded not to take on the Centre on this issue as the people of Delhi would have been the ultimate sufferers. As is public knowledge, the PDS is the joint responsibility of the Centre and the States. The former, through the Food Corporation of India, procures, stores, transports and allocates in bulk the food grains to the States. The operational responsibility, including allocation within the State, identification of eligible families, issuance of ration cards and so on, rests with the State Government. The Delhi and the BJP-led Union Governments are often at loggerheads over one issue or the other and the citizens end up being the sufferers. “The Centre has objected to the word ‘Chief Minister’, so we have decided to provide the ration without any name in the scheme,” Kejriwal clarified. The Delhi Government will now send a fresh proposal to the Centre for its approval. Now, it is the Centre’s turn to show similar maturity and not impede the State Government’s public welfare work.

Displaying a streak of maturity that he is not exactly famous for, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has chosen to avoid another ugly spat with the Centre with his announcement that the Delhi Government would drop the reference to the Chief Minister from the ‘Mukhyamantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojna’. The doorstep delivery of ration scheme was red-flagged by the Union Government just ahead of its proposed rollout, claiming that the subsidised food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) cannot be used for any State-specific scheme in the name of the Chief Minister. Listing out the reasons for rolling out the scheme, Kejriwal said it was his personal ambition for the past 20-25 years that the hardships faced by people in accessing food grain under the Public Distribution System (PDS) could be addressed. It is true that people face various difficulties in getting ration from the authorised shops and, in many cases, extra money is charged by the mafia for handing out the rightful beneficiaries their quota of ration. In a country that bears the burden of a quarter of global hunger with millions of undernourished people, the Delhi Government’s move is commendable. The Centre might have been on sound ground technically, but it really did derail the AAP Government’s ration delivery scheme.

Though the fight between the Governments went down to the wire, Kejriwal proceeded not to take on the Centre on this issue as the people of Delhi would have been the ultimate sufferers. As is public knowledge, the PDS is the joint responsibility of the Centre and the States. The former, through the Food Corporation of India, procures, stores, transports and allocates in bulk the food grains to the States. The operational responsibility, including allocation within the State, identification of eligible families, issuance of ration cards and so on, rests with the State Government. The Delhi and the BJP-led Union Governments are often at loggerheads over one issue or the other and the citizens end up being the sufferers. “The Centre has objected to the word ‘Chief Minister’, so we have decided to provide the ration without any name in the scheme,” Kejriwal clarified. The Delhi Government will now send a fresh proposal to the Centre for its approval. Now, it is the Centre’s turn to show similar maturity and not impede the State Government’s public welfare work.