WILL 'IDLY AND LOW COST RICE' REAP VOTES FOR JAYA?

By Padma Chettiyar / Chennai

Looks like Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa is battle-ready for the 2013-2014 Lok Sabha elections. A slew of welfare programmes, targeting both the urban and rural poor, that she has initiated in the last few months make a great beginning for her campaign.

While a chain of “Amma” restaurants (Amma Unavagam) that sell south Indian food at dirty-cheap prices and rice at Rs 20 per kilo target both the poor and middle class homes, her relief package for the farmers target vulnerable households across the state.


If the highly innovative noon meal scheme of the late chief minister and AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran (MGR) redefined welfare politics in India that went on to become a global social protection blockbuster, the popularity of Jaya’s fair price restaurants is certainly catching up. If all goes well, this is going to be a global best practice.

In his pro-poor policies, MGR was instinctive – he knew the linkage between poverty-trap and hunger better than anybody else and was a trailblazer in welfare measures that were ridiculed by pundits as populist. Over the years, his noon meal scheme has evolved considerably and now focuses more on nutrition than simple calorie consumption.

Jayalalithaa’s fair price restaurants address the same issue that MGR was particular about – hunger. In this case, in urban areas.

Most often the urban poor are excluded in pro-poor policies and programmes by the Centre and the states. The 200 fair price restaurants that Jaya’s government opened in record time is primarily aimed at them, although even professionals throng these places. Idlis at Rs. 1 and curd rice at Rs. 5 are at least 10 times cheaper than what they cost in regular restaurants.

She started with 15 shops in Chennai in February and by 3 April took the tally to 200. All the wards in the city corporation now have these shops which are open from 7 am to 10 pm. Similar shops will now be set up in Salem and Trichy and will subsequently expand to all the city corporations.

The initiative has all the factors that make a global best practice in addressing urban poverty. And the most interesting feature is that it doesn’t “target” as institutions such as the World Bank and UPA would want state governments to do. One doesn’t need an APL or BPL card to get cheap food. Access to these shops is universal, as it is for the Rs 20 per kilo rice or most of the state’s PDS system.

The low cost rice scheme is a welfare initiative that aims at market intervention to curb price rise. The government plans to distribute one lakh metric tonnes of rice at Rs 20 per kilo – while the market prices are much higher – through cooperatives, shops run by societies and special shops set up only for this purpose. Consistent with the spirit of universal access, this scheme is also open to everyone.

The beginning of Jayalalithaa’s welfare schemes this time was her victory in the Supreme Court and subsequent union government notification that secured Cauvery water for 17 lakh desperate farmers in four districts. It was her relentless pressure tactics and strategic pursuit that broke the 22-year old impasse.

Having taken care of the delta farmers, her next target was the farmers in other districts. Early this month, she announced a Rs 1,755 crore drought relief package for the rest the state without waiting for relief from the Centre. Usually, states ask the Centre for relief, which comes through after a team studies the situation and drastically cuts down the demanded sum.

Jayalalithaa, even while making a demand for central assistance of Rs 19,655 crores, didn’t wait for answers and went ahead with her announcement. She was quick to constitute a team headed by the finance minister which surveyed 18 affected districts. Farmers will receive more than Rs 850 crore in cash for the loss of their crops. Rs. 5000 per acre, when they are in distress, is of considerable value.

While reeling under severe power and water crisis that might alienate a large number of voters, particularly in cities, small towns and industrial belts, targeting both the urban and rural poor makes tremendous electoral sense. The DMK, although no less adept at popular schemes, is known for infrastructural milestones every time it comes to power; but Jayalalithaa probably knows what makes for a better electoral investment.

Not that she also hasn’t made infrastructural announcements. Nearly a year ago, she unveiled a 2023 vision plan which envisages 11 per cent growth, an average per capita income of Rs. 450,000 and no poverty. It certainly remains to be seen how this super ambitious plan pans out though. She also has announced several new roads and flyovers early this month.

Infrastructure and better looking cities will not win you votes in India. The needs of the heartland are basic. If governments cannot address them, they will lose. This is where Jayalalithaa’s welfare policies make sense.

As the Poverty Action Lab (PAL) of Harvard University and its new age economist Esther Duflo notes, hunger keeps people in poverty trap and makes the poor poorer. Jayalalithaa’s pro-poor measures are therefore important, not just in the short term for votes, but in bringing people out of poverty too.

If you help the poor, they won’t let you down. At least that’s what Jayalalithaa is banking on.