To what extent can the government’s Garib Kalyan package alleviate people’s distress? Explain (200 Words)
Refer - Indian Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· The increased entitlement of foodgrains supplied through the public distribution system (PDS) is a major intervention. A typical poor household having five adult members consumes 50-55 kg of cereals and 4-5 kg of pulses every month.
· Under the package, an additional 5 kg of wheat or rice would be given per person per month, free of cost. The doubling of entitlement, effective for the next three months with the extra grain coming free, will practically meet the family’s entire cereal requirement. Roughly 80 crore persons or two-thirds of India’s population covered under the National Food Security Act will benefit.
· The effectiveness will be more in states with well-functioning PDS. That is, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Odisha — but not Uttar Pradesh or Bihar.
· Not really, in a lockdown, where there’s little scope to undertake MNREGA works. In today’s context, all MNREGA households — a total of 13.65 crore job cards have been issued, of which 8.22 crore are active — should ideally be given an unemployment allowance.
· The Finance Minister has claimed that the Rs 20 wage rate hike will result in an additional income of Rs 2,000 per household. This is a theoretical calculation, assuming all job card holders are provided 100 days of guaranteed wage employment under the scheme.
· When daily wage earners are supposed to remain at their homes, the only way to compensate them under MNREGA is through unemployment allowance. The onus for paying that under the Act is, however, on the state governments. It is unlikely they would make the necessary budgetary provision.
· The main problem for poor and vulnerable households today is liquidity stress. Unlike big businessmen or the salaried middle class, these are people with no balance sheets, reserves, or bank balances.
· Every day’s loss of work for them means cutting down even basic consumption and going deeper into debt. Free grain can help, but does not address the real crisis, which is of liquidity. They need cash to buy essential things other than just food — and most of them had it till the other day.
