MyVoice: Views of our readers 2nd july 2020

Poor implementation of Central schemes

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very active in announcing welfare schemes for the poor, these programmes do not actually reach to the beneficiaries. The MPs who adopt villages under the SAGY scheme are supposed to fund projects in their adopted villages using their Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) Funds. An MP gets Rs 5 crore a year as MPLAD funds. Lack of time limit to execute the programme may defeat the purpose as MPs are good at not honouring the time limit as they know nothing shall happen to them even if they fail. In addition, no power has been accorded to Gram Panchayats. Although the programmes provide for the design of model villages to be done with the help of Gram Panchayats, it does not provide them the honour to become an implementation vehicle. It once again places the most powerful tool for Bharat Nirman under the MPs and bureaucrats. Therefore, the biggest lacuna of the scheme is to rely on the same worn out vehicle for its implementation. Further, in India, history is witness to how even the best of the policies launched by the government failed to achieve its target only because of corruption. One such example is MGNREGA. Finally, there is lack of any method of social audit which is the best method to bring transparency to any scheme and make the implementation authority accountable to the common citizen and help the latter become more aware. Even though audits have been always resisted, the government fails to understand its potential and implement it fully.

G Arun Kumar, Vijayawada

Modi's true colour exposed

This refers to the report 'PM readies nation for vaccination' (June 30). For a country with 130 crore population, a majority of who are poor, Modi quite gratuitously compared India with the US, UK, and European Union. The size of the "free ration scheme" in India was 2.5 times more than the US, 12 times more than Britain, and two times larger than the whole EU, the Prime Minister made it a point to say. Since much of the criticism against his government was on the way it handled the migrant worker crisis, he swiftly added that India is on its way to implement "one nation, one ration card" system soon. Even as he said that, Modi did not leave the opportunity to give a cultural spin to these announcements. He presented these PDS measures as relief for the upcoming Hindu festival season. He tactfully singled out Eid-ul-Adha, which will be celebrated in July, and Guru Purab, observed by Sikhs, in late November for omission in the list of festivals he mentioned in his speech. The festive season, notably, does not end with Chhath. December sees Christmas Day, which Modi also missed. At the same time, his reference to Chhath Puja, a popular Hindu festival celebrated annually in the poll-bound Bihar, also did not go unnoticed. Does one need to have extra brain to understand the communal overtones?

G Shruthi Reddy, Hyderabad

Expansion of MP Cabinet imminent

With discussions on the expansion of the Council of Ministers in Madhya Pradesh, it could take place in a couple of days; efforts were on to get as many as 25 fresh public representatives sworn in as Ministers as early as Monday or Tuesday. 16 are from the BJP and nine from the camp of BJP's Rajya Sabha MP who had invited loyalties from the Congress to the BJP.

The talks on likely expansion of the Council of Ministers have gained mileage after Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel was given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh as well since State Governor Lalji Tandon is called sick suddenly. The expansion was necessary for the BJP not only to fulfil a constitutional obligation but also to prevent sending out a message of political betrayal to Congress MLAs who joined the BJP along with Scindia.

Kolluru Raju, Kakinada