Food Security Bill is a Dice of UPA-2 to win 2014 General Election
The National Food Security Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha. But for the Congress, the challenge has just begun. It took four years for the second UPA government to get its flagship scheme to see the light of day in the Lok Sabha. But it now has barely eight months to convey the bill’s political message to voters – assuming, of course, that the bill is passed by the Rajya Sabha and becomes a law.
As India’s Economy facing a very pathetic Situation, this Food Security bill might be taking off Media’s & Public concentration from India’s Economy.
The food bill aims to give 75% of the rural population and 50% of urban people access to subsidised food grains while the DBT will transfer cash directly to beneficiaries. The Congress will need better packaging to sell something that is already in circulation in many large states. The successful implementation of the food scheme also depends heavily on the state governments. The 304 amendments to the bill moved in the Lok Sabha clearly show that Opposition parties are in no mood to let the Congress take all the credit.
Now coming back to the original question, would Food Security Act deliver the goods for the Congress and the UPA it heads? The answer is both yes and no. Political analysts generally overestimate the vote-pulling powers of such moves. They also tend to ignore the fact that given the fragmentation of the vote bases at the state level, there’s little scope of the benefits of such initiatives going exclusively to one party.
There is a perceptible design to the Congress’ moves in recent times. On the back foot over charges of big ticket corruption, poor governance, mismanagement of the economy and crippling policy blunders, the party does not see much hope in the urban areas. As pre-poll surveys indicate, the party might lose a big chunk of the urban constituencies in 2014. It is seeking redemption elsewhere. This explains party vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s emphasis on rural and tribal areas and his reluctance to address the concerns of the urban India. The only gain for the Congress could be better internal cohesion, not much beyond that.
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The major thing to consider is the money involved. Center doesn’t has enough backup to execute the plan for a stretch of 5 years. So the center is just going to play with the taxpayer’s money. Center should have waited, really waited. Visit my post on same opine, ansariizaz.wordpress.com – food for everyone.