Karnataka govt’s decision to reduce food grain quota for BPL families is disturbing for some

Pavagada: The government’s decision to reduce the food grain quota for BPL families based on the number of family members has come as disturbing news for an aged couple of Pavagada in Tumakuru who purely depend on the ‘Anna Bhagya scheme’ to remain alive.

“Is five kg food grains per head for the whole month enough? We don’t know how to manage things”, say the helpless couple, Rathnamma and Narasimhareddy of Thimmapur village in Pavagada who did not have any source of income. Though they had four children, all of them died in their infancy. According to the couple, the babies died as they were born unhealthy due to the high fluoride content in drinking water and lack of nutritious food.

They have an acre and a half of agricultural land but have no strength to work in the fields. Seventy-year-old Narasimhareddy suffers from knee pain due to regular consumption of impure water while Rathnamma has no control over her legs and waist after a fall while working as a coolie in a field about four years ago. Both have to crawl to reach their destinations.

Thimmapur village is their world where they live with the support of neighbours. Narasimhareddy gets old-age pension of Rs 500 while Rathnamma had applied for the Pension scheme for the handicapped but is yet to be sanctioned the benefit. “We don’t know why we should continue living when we did not get potable water or two square meal a day”, say the couple.

“We request this government not to reduce the food quota, as it helps people like us”, they said. Under the Anna Bhagya scheme, one person gets 10 kg of grain and the maximum for a family is 30 kg. But the implementation of the new ‘Unit System’ to curb diversion of food grains will certainly affect them, the couple feels.