Sonia Gandhi rolls out food security scheme in Delhi

Congress President Sonia Gandhi rolled out UPA's flagship Food Security Scheme in Delhi on Tuesday. Starting with the national capital, the Food Security Scheme will come into force in all Congress-ruled states from Tuesday.

"The UPA government is dedicated to bring change in the life of the common man. Today in our country there are a lot of poor people who do not get to eat a proper meal and their children suffer from malnutrition. We have introduced the Food Security Bill to ensure that all the poor and hungry and get enough to eat," Sonia said. Also read: India's primary health care needs quick reform The scheme has been rolled out on the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Terming the project as a dream project of her husband, Sonia said "the scheme was Rajiv Gandhi's dream. He had seen poverty from close quarters. He wanted to do something for the upliftment of the poor."
 
Hoping that the scheme will help almost 80 crore people of the country, Sonia said that since the present PDS has many shortcommings, the Food Security Scheme will be a system that plugs those loopholes. "From September 1, people in Delhi will start getting grain at cheap rates," the UPA chief said. Meanwhile, Food Minister KV Thomas singled out Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for delaying the scheme. "Modi wrote to me that the bill must be discussed again. He is trying to delay the bill, trying to deny people their rights," Thomas said. The Food Security Bill has been stalled in the Lok Sabha with the BJP not allowing the House to function and stepping up its attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the missing coal scam files. The BJP stalled both Houses of Parliament demanding that the Prime Minister makes a statement on the missing files. This came even as Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal made a statement in the Rajya Sabha. The government said the Coal Minister is ready to make a statement in the Lok Sabha too. However, the BJP demanded that only the Prime Minister makes a statement on the missing files.