Rice at Re 1/kg in TN from Sept 15

The DMK Government in Tamil Nadu has decided to distribute rice through fair price shops at rupee one per kilogram from September 15...

The DMK Government in Tamil Nadu has decided to distribute rice through fair price shops at rupee one per kilogram from September 15, to fulfil the promise given by the party to win elections in the state for the first time over four decades ago.

A resolution to this effect was adopted on Saturday morning at a meeting of DMK district secretaries chaired by Chief Minister and party president M Karunanidhi. The Cabinet that met in the evening formalised the resolution and has decided to start distribution by September 15, the birth anniversary of party founder and the late Chief Minister C N Annadurai. The scheme would cover about 1.86 crore ration card holders and would cost an additional Rs 300-Rs 400 crore to the exchequer, said Karunanidhi.

Rice has always been a pet subject of the DMK right from the time it first contested elections. When the DMK first came to power in 1967 after defeating the Congress, the slogan was oru rupayku moontru padi arasu (three measures of rice for one rupee). However, after assuming power, the new Government soon realised that it was not feasible to give three padi (one padi is around 1.5 kg) rice for one rupee, and the slogan was dexterously rewritten to oru padi nitchayam, moontru padi latchiyam (one padi is for sure, three padi is our aim). The scheme was soon wound up.

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However, political observers refuse to take the new announcement as a gesture to fulfil a long-standing promise. Bringing down the price of rice was a poll promise by the DMK during the last Assembly, they pointed out, adding such measures were almost always connected with polls.

With DMK, AIADMK, MDMK and other smaller parties’ claim to own the legacy of the legendary politician ‘Anna’ — who gave a parliamentary face to the Dravidian movement — all parties here are engaged in an effort to outdo each other in celebrating his birth anniversary on September 15.