In mid-May, when Janardhan Singh’s meagre savings had dried up, an announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman filled him with hope...
In mid-May, when Janardhan Singh’s meagre savings had dried up, an announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman filled him with hope.
The Central government, under its Atmanirbhar Bharat economic package, would provide 8 lakh metric tonnes of free foodgrains to 8 crore migrant workers whose lives had been upended since the Covid-19 lockdown was suddenly enforced in March.
The scheme was announced for just two months – May and June – but it offered at least 5 kg of grain per person and 1 kg of pulses per family every month for migrant labourers who did not have ration cards and were not covered by the Public Distribution System.
Singh did not have a ration card ever since his family moved from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai 12 years ago. He had lost his job as an imitation jewellery maker with the lockdown, and had to rely on charity to feed his wife and four young children. Around him, hundreds of his neighbours in Malvani’s Ambujwadi slum were in the same throes of economic despair.
The Atmanirbhar package promised some much-needed food security, and Singh did everything he could to ensure that his family was registered under the scheme.
“I submitted our names and Aadhaar numbers to the local ration office,...
