The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its concerns over the “freebie” schemes of the government, calling it an unviable solution for the problems of migrant labourers. The Supreme Court said: “Providing free food grains is not a permanent solution, measures should be taken to increase employment.”
The Supreme Court expressed concern over giving free food grains to the people. The court has the loss of job opportunities since Covid struck should be addressed to viable means of employment rather than doling out free food grains.
“Free food grains cannot be a long-term solution,” the SC said. The court made the remark when the petitioner demanded increasing the scope of free and subsidised food grains and the Centre in response informed about giving free food grains to 81 crore people.
In view of the condition of migrant labourers during the Covid pandemic, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance and began a hearing. In 2021, the court had asked to identify the labourers and connect them to the e-Shram portal. The court had also asked to provide food to the workers. The court has not yet settled the matter.
On Monday, a bench of Justice Surya Kant and Manmohan heard the case. During this, Prashant Bhushan, a lawyer appearing for an NGO, demanded to increase the scope of government assistance. He said that ration cards should be issued to the needy. “If the correct population figures are provided, it will be known that a large population is deprived of government help,” he said.
On this, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that such petitioners are just armchair intellectuals. “They do not actually help the poor. During the time of Covid, when the government was helping the needy, their job was only to file petitions,” he argued. Meanwhile, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati informed that along with migrant labourers, a very large section of the population was getting the benefit of the central government scheme. More than 81 crore people are beneficiaries of free food grains.
On this, Justice Surya Kant said, “But for how long can these free things be given? We need to think of a permanent solution. Right now it seems as if only those who pay taxes are not taking free food grains. The problem is that if we put pressure on the states to issue more ration cards, the burden will ultimately fall on the central government.” The court said that it will hear the case further on January 8.
