Pinarayi Vijayan Opposes Centre's Proposed AAY Ration Rule Change, Calls It Anti-People

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has said the central government's move to change the beneficiary criterion under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) scheme in the National Food Security Act from a family-based to an individual basis amounts to a disregard for the people. In a statement, he said the proposed amendment is a covert attempt by the Centre to gradually cut ration entitlements for the poor and undermine the Food Security Act itself, demanding that the state government urgently raise Keralam's strong protest and intervene to protect the rights of the people.

He pointed out that under the new proposed amendment, each individual is alloted 7 kg of food products. Following this amendments, smaller families stand to lose a significant portion of what they currently receive, since families are presently guaranteed 35 kg of foodgrain. At the same time, the total entitlement per family is being capped at 35 kg per month, regardless of family size.

Pinarayi Vijayan said the new move effectively penalises southern Indian states like Keralam, which have successfully implemented family planning and population control. The Centre, he alleged, is trying to eliminate the total foodgrain allocation of southern Indian states. Instead of updating the beneficiary list based on the 2011 census and including lakhs of eligible people, the Centre is yielding to corporate interests to dismantle the ration system.

He demanded that the Centre immediately withdraw this amendment that robs ordinary people of their ration rights, and called for strong public resistance against what he described as an anti-people move by the central government.