Food-For-Work : Role for Panchayats

Two questions need to be sorted out with regard to the organisation of the food-for-work programme announced by the centre. One, financial and the other, administrative. Obviously the central government has made up its mind to bear the full cost of releasing food stocks for the programme. Under the Sampoorn Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) 50 lakh tons of foodgrains worth Rs 5,000 crore are to be made available to the states annually. Whether or not the distribution, free of cost, of 50 lakh tons of foodgrains to the states would be shown by the centre as part of its budget has not been made clear. The question whether it should be shown as such is itself open to some dispute, for the reason that the foodgrains to be distributed will be part of the food stocks already held by the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The question would arise only with regard to the cash component of Rs 5,000 crore to be handed over to the states for implementing the scheme.