With the inadequate stock of rice, the Siddaramaiah government is likely to postpone the flagship Anna Bhagya Scheme

After getting a denial by the Centre on June 23, for supplying rice to Karnataka for its flagship Anna Bhagya scheme, Siddaramaiah met officials of the three central agencies on Saturday. The Centre’s decision was conveyed to Karnataka’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa by Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi. “The Union Government has adequate rice that will remain after completing their supplies. The Centre requires 135 lakh metric tonnes for the national supply, whereas they have a stock of 262 lakh metric tonnes. We were not asking for rice free or cost. As they had an ample quantity of rice so we pointed out that they could supply us rice, but they were not relenting. We are disappointed,” Mr. Muniyappa said.  The Minister further said that the Centre is playing politics and doesn't want our scheme to be successful.

To procure rice for the scheme Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Food and civil supplies minister KH Muniyappa met officials in this regard of the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF), the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (Nafed), and Kendriya Bhandar.Price range from Rs.36-38 per kg. quoted by the agencies, the State Government of Karnataka took quotations from these central agencies and price negotiations are going on. However, the prices have yet not been disclosed while the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has quoted a price of Rs. 36.7/-.It is important to mention that CM Siddaramaiah approached the states like Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh as well. But these states too did not have adequate quantities of rice and their rates are also very high. Seeing the inadequate stock of rice, the state congress government is likely to postpone the scheme which was to be initiated on July 1st.

Muniyappa assured that the rice would be provided to the poor before August 1.In response, ex-CM BS Yediyurappa demanded the implementation of all five schemes promised by Siddaramaiah before the session. He said, “If the other four guarantees are not implemented before the assembly session begins, it will be inevitable for us to stage ‘Satyagraha’ inside and outside the House (assembly). I’m also ready to stage a ‘dharna’ (demonstration) in front of Vidhan Soúdha."It is pertinent to mention that the Congress government announced the Anna Bhagya scheme as one of the five pre-poll guarantees. Under the scheme supply of five kg of rice per person for BPL card-holding families has been assured.  The central government is already giving 5 kgs of rice for free. With about 2.29 lakh metric tonnes of additional required per month, the scheme is likely to cost about ₹10,000 crore. The Food Corporation of India (FCI), which had initially agreed to supply the quantity, later overturned the decision and forced the State Government of Karnataka to look for other sources to procure rice