This refers to the editorial, “Food for more thought” (June 15).
The National Food Security Bill is an election stunt of the inefficient and corrupt Congress-led UPA Government. Theoretically, it is a sound proposal. But in practice, every citizen must earn enough to survive. In a country with a poor track record of implementing Government schemes, the Bill's noble intent will fall flat if there are no systemic corrections to ensure it is not exploited by racketeers.
However, it is a fact that subsidies, as also the food Bill which too is a dole by another name, would kill the motivation to earn one's livelihood. Instead of welfare handouts, the Government should incentivise the under-privileged to help them earn their keep. But India being India, the food Bill, like the other much vaunted UPA project, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, will only serve to encourage corruption and loot of food grain. If even a tenth of a rupee doesn't reach the poor, as then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had once remarked, why even introduce such schemesIJ