The newly elected Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday, 28 March, announced a doorstep ration delivery scheme applicable across the state.
"Even after 75 years of independence, our people are standing in queues. Today we are going to change this system. Now our elderly mothers will not have to stand in line for hours for ration. No one will have to give up their daily wages," he expressed in a tweet.
"Today I have decided that your government will deliver ration to your home," Mann concluded.
"The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to start doorstep delivery of ration for the people of Punjab. Our officers will call you to ask the timings of the same and will deliver the ration at that time," Mann said in a video.
"The world has become so digital that you can order anything on one call, and it is delivered to you. Sometimes, the poor even have to let go of their daily wage to just stand in line for their share of ration. Some very old women have to walk for kilometers for the same," the Punjab CM was heard saying in the video.
He also mentioned that the scheme is optional, and ration-card holders may opt out if they wish.
Assuring that the delivered ration will be of good quality, he said, "The ration will be of good quality and not substandard. It will be delivered to you in clean packages too."
'You Cannot Stop the Idea Whose Time Has Come': Arvind Kejriwal
Supporting the Punjab CM's announcement of the doorstep delivery ration scheme, AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stated,
"There's a saying, 'you cannot stop the idea whose time has come', the BJP-run Centre didn't allow us to implement it in Delhi, no problem, we'll do it in Punjab and the country will see and demand it."
The scheme will be implemented in India, just like mohalla clinics were, the Delhi CM said. "Over the years, you have seen how we were stopped from working in Delhi. The mohalla clinic project was stalled for two years, the CCTC project was stopped for three years; but we did it finally," he added.
“Even after so many years of Independence, people have to take leave from work and stand in long lines to get ration. In this country, pizza can be delivered at home but not ration," Kejriwal continued.
He further explained, "Under this scheme, the government will pack and send ration to your home. No one will have to stand in line. The poor in Punjab will benefit from this."
State Versus Centre
In Delhi, the central and state governments have been in a long-standing disagreement over the implementation of the ration scheme, with the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution appealing to the State on various occasions, pointing that provision for ration delivered to homes did not exist in the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The ministry had informed the Delhi government of the violation that would be thus caused by the implementation of the scheme.
In November last year, the apex court had refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court interim order that cleared the way for the AAP-led Delhi government's scheme of doorstep delivery of ration.
Delhi government had reasoned with the Supreme Court that since in the current times, everything is being delivered at homes, including cooked food and even liquor, there should be nothing wrong with food grains' delivery at the doorstep of poor people's homes under the Public Distribution System.
The Central government filed an appeal in the court against this High Court's decision.
The doorstep delivery ration scheme was AAP's key agenda in the campaign during polls.
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