By IANS
New Delhi : Kerala’s unique civil supplies networking is strong enough to challenge any multinational retail giants and the state is not afraid of Walmart or Reliance, Kerala’s Civil Supplies Minister C. Diwakaran said here Tuesday.
“We have 14,000 ration shops and 2,500 Supplyco (civil supplies outlets) across the state. I do not think any other small state in the world has such a wide networking. So, we do not have any threats from any retail giants,” said Diwakaran, who was in the capital to seek an increase in its allocation of food grain, kerosene and cooking gas to distribute through the public distribution system (PDS).
According to him, the state’s supplyco outlets or its supermarket networking have not been affected by the numerous national and multinational retailers that have opened up showrooms in the state.
The state’s ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and its allies have been protesting against the entry of multinational retail giants, saying it would kill the small-scale retail industry in the country.
“In fact, there is an increase in the number of people who have started consuming the goods that are distributed through the PDS. The entire BPL (Below Poverty Level) section and 35 percent of the APL (Above Poverty Level) buy from the ration shops.
“The retail giants may be able to capture the urban areas, but state’s rural areas and towns still rely on PDS outlets,” the minister said.
He said Kerala would soon modernise the 14,000 ration shops in the state. “The total project cost is Rs.57 crore (Rs.570 million). We have sought at least one- third of the project cost from the central government.”
Diwakaran, however, alleged that the Centre had made a considerable cut in the state’s allocation of wheat, rice, kerosene and LPG.
“We have serious reservations against the parameters the Planning Commission applies to identify BPL and the APL. According to the existing parameters (which apply to all the states), the state may not have even a single BPL family. That’s why we complain that the state is being punished for its development in the health, education and economic sectors,” Diwakaran said.
The minister and his official team met Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and discussed the issue Tuesday.
“Kerala wants the central government to allow the state to identify the BPL and the APL categories,” he said, pointing out that according to the Centre the state had only 1.4 million BPL families. “But we distribute the PDS allocation to at least 3 million families,” he said.