In a fresh set of political promises amid the Lok Sabha Elections going on in the country, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has announced that if the INDIA bloc is voted to power, it will double the quantity of free rations provided by the BJP government to the poor. Kharge, addressing a joint press conference with Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on May 15, said that the INDIA bloc will provide 10 kg free ration to people, as against NDA’s 5 kg. Kharge also accused the Modi government of taking ‘undue credit’ over free ration and said that this was brought out by the Congress-led UPA government under the Food Security Act.
Interestingly, the Congress President’s promise comes a day after Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertions that the BJP has already won 270 seats and the next three phases will only add numbers to its kitty. So, amid the high-decibel campaign and fierce competition between BJP and the INDIA bloc to woo new voters, free ration to the country’s 80 crore citizens has become a new rallying point. Notably, the Congress manifesto for the 2024 elections didn’t mention free ration and now has suddenly popped up after the culmination of the fourth phase of elections. The major thrust of the Congress poll manifesto was on empowering women with Rs 1 lakh yearly assistance and apprenticeship to unemployed youth, under which they can avail assistance upto Rs 1 lakh.
The free ration to people started during the Covid pandemic to feed the poor and needy, has continued since then. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also declared before the polls that this scheme would continue for another five years, in his third term. BJP leaders, including Modi, list the government’s free ration scheme at every political rally. The extension of the free ration scheme, which will benefit around 80 crore people, could be a key element of the BJP’s 2024 Lok Sabha campaign narrative. The central government had launched the PMGKAY scheme in April 2020 under which 5 kilogram of free foodgrains was provided to every person on top of their NFSA entitlement of foodgrains at subsidised rates.
The free ration scheme has proved to be a big factor in the 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and its beneficiaries voted in large numbers in support of the BJP. But according to estimates, the average yearly cost of this scheme comes at around Rs 2 lakh crore. If Congress forms the next government and implements it, the budget will shoot up and by rough estimates, it would accrue an expense of Rs 4 lakh crore per year. The slew of promises in Congress’ Nyay Patra including assistance to women and the unemployed and the formula to achieve it has already come under scrutiny from experts. If free ration also gets included in the list, it will add further burden on the taxpayers.
