Prime Minister Imran Khan is keen and determined to provide social protection cover to low income group people. It has been decided that Ration Cards shall be issued to heads of families whose income is up to Rs. 25,000 per month. The capacity of the card shall encompass the provision food commodities including wheat flour, ghee, pulses and sugar at subsidized rates. Allocations shall be made for this purpose in the federal budget for the next fiscal year. The prices of these non-perishable eatables had never remained stable over the past few years due to hoarding and monopoly practices of powerful cartels in which influential political and business elites have major production, distribution and financial stakes.
The measure of providing essential eatables of daily consumption had remained in vogue in the government of President Ayub Khan although brute cartels had not existed in his government, nor he would have allowed it to come into existence. People of low income groups used to buy wheat flour and sugar in quantities determined on the basis of number of individuals in family from ration depots in private sector.. This cover of social protection was withdrawn in Z.A Bhutto government even though last two years of his tenure of government witnessed acute shortages of wheat flour, ghee and sugar. The non-availability of ghee forced sweet shops’ owners to cook their products in Mustard oil. Ration card system was revived in the government of General ZiaulHaq but done away with in Benazir Bhutto first government. The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is the first elected government to revive the Ration Card System and that too with enlarged capacity by including few more non-perishable commodities. It will certainly enable people of limited financial to make both ends meet.
Previously, budgetary allocations were not needed and people got food commodities from Ration Depots. Quality of food items available at these depots used to be at par with ones sold out in the open market. Now food commodities that are offered for sale at utility stores do not match with the items that people buy from the open market. After the introduction of Ration Cards, measures need to be taken for smooth and sustained supply of quality food commodities to the outlets of Utility Stores Corporation.
Provision of basic food commodities under ration card system went well in the past because the governments in the decades of 60s and 80s had focused on the implementation of short term strategies and long term planning to achieve food autarky. It was because of these policies that prices had remained stable as surplus output had left no room for monopoly practices. Neither in the past two governments nor in the present government policies of attaining food autarky seems to be the priority. The farmers package of Rs.340 billion of last PML-N government and the agriculture emergency programme worth Rs.309 billion f the present government lack emphasis on it. Leaving the standing crops at the mercy of locusts’ attacks says it all. Because of the financial crunch payment of subsidy on the commodities listed in the ration card may not be sustainable. Permanent solution for keeping the prices of edibles stable lies in increasing their output by implementing long term agriculture policy with special focus on cereal crops, pulses and oil seeds. Ironically, setting up of refineries for locally produced oil seed have been neglected by all governments which resulted in increased reliance on the import of palm oil for the ghee manufacturing industry and the price of this commodity abnormally goes up with increase in global demand of palm oil and national currency depreciation. Hopefully, a comprehensive agriculture policy shall be worked out and implemented in letter and spirit.
