Implement food security, Sonia tells Congress CMs

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today told chief ministers of states governed by her party to implement the ordinance-passed food security act in "letter and spirit".

During talks with Congress chief ministers on how to implement the scheme that seeks to provide cheap grain to 82 crore of Indian citizens, she told them to implement the scheme in "letter and spirit".

Economists have largely dismissed the scheme as impracticable, particularly in view of poor infrastructure, including highly leaky government-run distribution systems. And agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has said more than once that the scheme is impossible as the government simply lacks the funds to support it.

Nonetheless, the United Progressive Alliance government has promulgated the scheme – and with less than a year to the next general election, the Election Commission has not raised any objections to the ordinance.

Delhi, where state assembly elections are due at the end of this year, will be the first state to roll out the scheme on 20 August, the birth anniversary of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, son of Sonia Gandhi, attended the meeting, along with food minister K V Thomas and other party leaders.

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and the Food Security Act are being considered as major vote-gatherers for the Congress ahead of the 2014 general elections, as was the farmers' loan waiver scheme and MNREGA employment scheme by the previous UPA government.

Several states, including Congress-ruled Karnataka and Uttarakhand, BJP-governed Chhattigarh, SP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and JD(U)-run Bihar, could see early roll out of the programme.