PM lays down policy rekha for judges

Days after the Supreme Court rapped the Centre for not distributing free foodgrains to the poor, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, said the apex court should not get into “the realm of policy formulation”.

Dr Singh’s response came during an interaction with newspaper editors at his 7 Race Course Road residence here on Monday.

The court’s directive came last week when the food minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, got a rap on his knuckles for stating that its order on distribution of free foodgrains to the poor, instead of allowing it to rot, was difficult to implement.

On Monday, Dr Singh rose to Mr Pawar’s defence, saying where policy issues are concerned these should “remain the concern of policymakers and the government of the day”. Stating that he respected the “sentiments” behind the SC directive, Dr Singh asked how free foodgrains could be distributed to 37 per cent of the population which lives below the poverty line.

He asserted it is not possible to provide free foodgrains. The PM pointed out that providing free foodgrains would destroy the incentive that farmers have to produce more. If there were no foodgrains available, there would be nothing to distribute.

He said: “I do recognise that food should be available to people below the poverty line at concessional prices. We have not allowed any increase in the issue price of foodgrains to people below the poverty line since 2004.”