A meeting of the Group of Ministers (GOM), headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Friday asked Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar to gear up for implementation of the scheme by circulating the draft to various stakeholders at the earliest.
Though the UPA mandarins were keen to implement the scheme in this fiscal itself, an official in the Food Ministry told Deccan Herald that they required a minimum of four months to give proper shape to it.
President Pratibha Patil in her address to both Houses of the Parliament in June last year, had announced that her government would implement the scheme which ensures 25kg of rice or wheat at Rs 3 per kg to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) card holders. However, its execution faced hurdles due to delay in identifying the number of poor in the country.
In the recent chief ministers’ meeting, the Centre faced wrath from the BJP ruled states for delay in implementing it.