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Bengaluru, October 16 (IANS) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said he knows the pain of hunger and the cost of food, hence he has launched the Anna Bhagya scheme.
He was speaking after inaugurating the World Food Day event organized by the Department of Food and Civil Supplies at the banquet hall of Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru.
He said, “I know the pain of hunger and the value of food. That’s why I started Anna Bhagya Yojana… Famous Kannada poet DR Bendre has called farmers ‘Anna Brahma (god of food)’. Therefore, wasting or throwing away food is an insult to Anna Brahma.”
He said, “There was a time when we were dependent on America for food grains. Today, we have advanced to the level of exporting food abroad. But along with this achievement, the amount of food wastage has also increased, which is worrying.”
Citing a study by the University of Agricultural Sciences (GKVK), the CM said that 943 tonnes of food is wasted every year in Bengaluru alone, worth about Rs 360 crore.
Recalling Mahatma Gandhi’s words, he said, “Wasting food intentionally is arrogance towards food… Wasting food is a sinful act.”
“It is the commitment of the Congress that no one should sleep hungry. That is why we have implemented pro-poor programmes. It was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the Congress who introduced the Food Security Act. The BJP strongly opposed this Act. The ideology of the BJP is anti-poor. People should understand this. Do not clap for the pro-poor programs of the BJP on one hand and the Congress on the other. Understand that it is the Congress which is committed to ensuring food security,” he appealed. of.
“Strict action will be taken against those hoarding Anna Bhagya rice and selling it in the black market. To stop such practices, we have decided to distribute an additional 5 kg of pulses and grains along with 5 kg of rice,” the Chief Minister announced.
“Awareness about food and security of small farmers is the responsibility of the government, society and every citizen,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said, “Earlier, for the free gas scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s picture was put up in front of all petrol pumps. Now, it has been stopped. The price of cooking gas, which was Rs 400, has gone up to Rs 1,100. The prices of everything are skyrocketing, while the income has gone down.”
“To address this, we have implemented guarantee schemes. We allocate Rs 53,000 crore every year for this. Even though the Prime Minister and other leaders criticize our schemes, in the end, they copy them to maintain their political position. In Bihar, even before the elections were announced, Rs 10,000 was deposited in the accounts of women in the state. This shows that people’s basic food needs are extremely important,” he said.
He said that we are one of the few countries in Asia and the world where people eat freshly cooked hot food. He said, “People in most western countries are dependent on junk food, bread and fast food. Our country has achieved self-sufficiency in food production and has the potential to export abroad. We produce more milk than Gujarat. Our government’s programs are people-centric and have become models for the country.”
In 2013, then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched the “Anna Bhagya” scheme in Karnataka to provide subsidized rice to below poverty line (BPL) families. This was a major promise made by the Congress Party during its election campaign that year. In the initial offer, 30 kilograms of rice was made available per family at the rate of just Re 1 per kilogram.
The Congress-led government, after coming to power in 2023, announced 10 kg free rice for all members of BPL families in the state under the Anna Bhagya Free Rice Scheme.
However, in view of the misuse of rice being supplied to the Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries and to ensure better diversity in consumption, the Karnataka government has recently decided to provide “Indira Food Kit” to about 1.26 crore families in the state instead of 5 kg rice being provided under the Anna Bhagya Scheme.
–IANS
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