Why Centre’s Bharat Rice scheme is cooking up a storm in Kerala

Residents of Chuvannamannu, Thrissur, were a little surprised when a pickup van arrived in their locality carrying rice bags, and a group of officers began selling rice for ₹29 per kilogram. The local BJP workers quickly stepped in to explain the Centre’s new scheme of ‘Bharat Rice’ under which residents can avail rice at a subsidised rate. However, the rice here was being sold directly, bypassing the state government machinery.

BJP pins its hopes on Thrissur

Chuvannamannu, adjacent to the National Highway, was not the only location where the subsidised rice was sold. National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India, NCCF officials sold Bharat Rice bags in various places across the Thrissur district in the last week with the help of Kerala State Rice, Flour & Oil Millers Association. Interestingly, Thrissur is the constituency where the BJP is pinning its hopes to win this time, with actor-politician Suresh Gopi expected to be announced as its Lok Sabha candidate.

The Bharat Rice scheme was initiated to provide relief to consumers in the wake of a 15 per cent increase in retail prices of the grain compared to the previous year. Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal had announced the launch of subsidised rice, which will be sold in packs of five and 10 kilograms, along with lentil packets as well.

“It’s obviously a welcome move from whichever government is doing this,” said Janaki, one of the beneficiaries who received the rice bag on Day One of the project launch in Thrissur. “People like us cannot survive only on the rice from ration shops and Maveli stores. This kind of help is always good,” the 67-year-old agricultural worker said.

“We did not know about any such programme. The vehicle came when we were at the junction and some of us who had money readily available with us got to grab a packet of rice and lentil,” said CM Thomas, another Thrissur resident.

Election stunt by BJP, violation of federal principles: Kerala govt

The decision of the central government to directly intervene in the market, bypassing the state machinery and the public distribution system, has not been well received by the state governments, especially those not ruled by the BJP. They perceive it as an attempt by the BJP to woo voters by antagonising them against the state governments. Kerala’s civil supplies minister G R Anil came down heavily on the NDA government, terming its subsidised rice sale as an election stunt and blatant violation of federal principles.

“They sell the rice available at ration shops for ₹29 per kg as Bharat Rice. This is not high-quality rice, as one might expect. We sell the same rice variety through Kerala Civil Supplies Corporation’s Supplyco stores for ₹25 per kg. The same rice is sold at ₹4 per kg even to the non-priority subsidy or APL blue cardholders, and ₹10.90 for non-priority white cardholders in ration shops,” the minister said.

In a statement, the Civil Supplies minister alleged that the move was in violation of the National Food Security Act, which mandates the distribution of food grains through ration outlets operated under state governments. He questioned the necessity of distributing rice outside the robust public distribution system already in place in Kerala.

He also criticised the Centre for allegedly forcing 57 per cent of the state's population out of the ration system. He said that the Centre had slashed the tide-over allocation of food grains that used to be distributed among the non-priority sections.

PDS rice vs Bharat Rice

While launching Bharat Rice, Union Minister Piyush Goel said the Indian government was committed towards the welfare of farmers and that the scheme would increase supplies in the market at affordable rates.

“The central government purchases essential commodities from farmers and sells them to consumers at subsidised rates whenever in need. The launch of retail sale of ‘Bharat’ Rice will increase supplies in the market at affordable rates and will help in continued moderation of prices of this important food item. This is the latest among a series of steps taken by the Government of India towards the welfare of consumers,” he said while inaugurating the scheme on February 5.

“This is obviously an election stunt. They are doing everything in their power to garner votes for Suresh Gopi,” said KT Babu, a member of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) in Thrissur. “It is this very central government that forced the state government to pay for the rice they gave through the FCI during the devastating floods of 2018 and 2019. Now this Bharat Rice has been distributed by BJP-RSS workers. They are doing it as part of their election campaign,” he added.

Political commentator M Gopakumar says the Centre’s bid to distribute subsidised rice is ironic when it has denied rice supply to over 14,000 ration shops in Kerala.

“In Kerala, there are over 14,000 ration shops operating under the Public Distribution System (PDS). Now, these PDS outlets have been denied rice supply. This action by the Union government, favouring distribution of Bharat Rice through its RSS-BJP affiliates over the established PDS is a breach of our federal principles. This is totally unconstitutional,” he says.

Scheme not poll-driven, say BJP leaders

On the other hand, BJP leaders defended their initiative, asserting that the central government is committed to serving the people no matter the means used. They maintained that the programme was completely implemented by the government agencies, especially the National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India Limited (NCCF) in Kerala.

“The BJP or RSS has nothing to do with the Bharat Rice distribution,” says KR Hari, a party leader in Thrissur who was at the forefront of the distribution in the constituency.

“When we heard about the central scheme, we coordinated with the NCCF officials to get it to the beneficiaries. They came with 200 packets of rice of 10 kg each to certain points and in no time the packets were finished. This has nothing to do with elections or votes. First of all, let the common man get the benefit of the government scheme, politics can wait,” Hari told The Federal.

NCCF officials say they have been instructed to distribute the rice and dal packets via mobile units, and the agency will be setting up around 200 outlets across the state in the coming days.

LDF leaders argue that the scheme lacks sufficient checks and balances, potentially leading to chaos as beneficiaries are determined by BJP workers. Additionally, the central government's direct intervention, bypassing the state, is occurring amidst allegations that the state’s civil supply corporation is facing shortages of essential commodities.