Rahul Gandhi to address PCC chiefs on Food Security scheme

New Delhi: After Congress President Sonia Gandhi's recent interaction with Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi will hold deliberations with PCC chiefs of all states on July 27 on the Congress-led UPA Government’s flagship scheme Food Security Bill.

Rahul Gandhi will address the PCC chiefs of states including those ruled by Congress as well as those where the Opposition parties are in power. The Congress MLAs from the opposition-ruled states will participate in the meeting in which Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Food Minister KV Thomas will also be present.

The July 27 meeting on Food security scheme comes a fortnight after the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is also the UPA Chairperson, asked Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states to expeditiously implement the food security scheme in letter and spirit. In the meeting with 13 Congress Chief Ministers on Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said bottlenecks, if any, in the implementation of the scheme will be removed. The aim of that meeting was to ensure that the pro-poor Food Security scheme is implemented in the best possible manner with Congress-ruled states becoming role models in implementation of the food security measure.

Ahead of the July 27 meeting, Rahul Gandhi will inaugurate a three-day workshop at the party headquarters, starting July 21, for a fresh batch of 150-odd party spokespersons from the States. The aim is to work towards a better relationship, better coordination between the party’s central unit and the States, and ensure synergy between what is being said in Delhi and in the State capitals. Apart from videoconferencing and deploying the latest technological tools to ensure unity of voices, on days the Congress has a briefing in Delhi at 4.15 p.m., the text of the spokesperson’s press conference would be in the hands of all State spokespersons by 6 p.m.

On July 27, when Rahul Gandhi addresses PCC chiefs of all States, whether ruled by the Congress or not, as well as the Congress Legislature Party leaders of non-Congress-ruled States, he will impress upon them the need to keep up the pressure on the Chief Ministers to implement the food security programme expeditiously, explain its significance to the people at large, and stress that the bulk of the subsidy comes from the Centre.

For instance, if the current central subsidy for rice is Rs 18 per kg, rice that costs Rs. 23 a kg is being given to the States at Rs 5. So a State that supplies it at Re 1 a kg, for instance, is providing only a subsidy of Rs. 4 per kg. Now, of course, the central subsidy will increase further.

While Congress-ruled Delhi has announced its decision to implement the scheme from August 20, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said in the meeting that he was also ready to roll out the scheme from the same day.

Rahul Gandhi interacting with Media in Bugdam (Srinagar)

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was in J&K to inaugurate a scheme meant for women named "Umeed". While interacting with the media he said, Where ever we are in Government , where ever we are in partnership we do our job. We do it aggressively. That is why I have come to Kashmir. It's very important to me. I come from Kashmir historically. And I would like to see participation of people in Kashmir at the local level and I would like to see it progress possibly one of the fastest progressing state of our country. Replying to a question on the relationship with ruling party he said, We have a healthy constructive relationship. On change of leadership in Pakistan and it's impact on J&K Rahul Gandhi said, the real change has to come from within. We cannot be dependent on what is going on in the rest of the world. How can we involve our people in Kashmir, how can we give them more voice , how can we involve them in the government at the local level, how can we involve these women , how can we ensure that youngsters have jobs. How can we ensure progress. Whether the leadership in Pakistan is good or bad, that's not in our hands. He further said UPA2 and UPA1 has transformed the mood in Kashmir. Progress takes time. But there is massive progress in Kashmir. Progress in the sentiment of the people. There is a progress in the connectivity that Kashmir is having. There is progress in Tourism. We are on a upward forward path. We are going to ensure that the people of Kashmir get the development they deserve.

Rahul Gandhi inaugurates 'Umeed' programme in Budgam (Srinagar)

Congress vice President Rahul Gandhi, along with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah launched the UMEED programmme for the empowerment of women in central Badgam district in Jamju and Kashmir. Rahul Gandhi said that active participation of women is a must for holistic development of the society. The Congress Vice President argued that Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra developed because once women there were empowered and they actively participated in development programmes. Rahul Gandhi also said that Congress-led UPA government at the Centre had sanctioned Rs.750 crore under UMEED to the state to organise self-help groups (SHG) of women for addressing their economic challenges and curb social evils like drug addiction and female foeticide. Rahul Gandhi added that the UMEED initiative had gone a long way in making women confident and enabling them to stand on their own feet. The young congress leader said that he had visited Jammu and Kashmir last year and met youth at Kashmir University, and invited them to visit Amethi and see the benefits that women received from the UMEED, just so a similar one could be taken up in Jammu and Kashmir. "I took Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with me to Amethi so that he could also take a view of the success of this programme", said Rahul Gandhi, adding that the trip had culminated in the launch of UMEED in Jammu and Kashmir. "We can provide help, but you have to work yourselves to achieve the goals of welfare, social justice and development", he said.