Pre-Election 'PM Modi Logos' on PDS Grain Bags to Cost Crores: Report
New Delhi: The Food Corporation of India (FCI) has instructed its regional offices to float tenders for bags laminated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “logo” for distributing food grains under the public distribution system (PDS), as reported by The Hindu.
The initiative falls under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKY), which aims to provide free foodgrains to approximately 81.35 crore beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Priority Households scheme.
This move, which is seen as a pre-election strategy, comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections expected to be held by May this year.
According to a Right to Information reply obtained by activist Ajay Bose, Rajasthan has ordered synthetic bags worth Rs 13.29 crores. The state's supply order is for 1.07 crore synthetic bags at a cost of Rs 12.375 per bag.
While Rajasthan has awarded the tender for the bags to five companies, Nagaland has awarded the contract to one company at Rs 9.30 per bag.
An official from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution mentioned that such branding has begun in 2024, "ahead of the election."
Tamil Nadu has floated a tender for the supply of 1.14 crore bags, while Maharashtra is yet to finalise its tendering process.
Earlier this month, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rejected the Union government’s directive to install selfie points featuring cutouts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at big ration shops under the PMGKY.
Previously, the Modi government withheld funds to West Bengal for refusing to print the prime minister’s photographs on bags used to distribute ration. In 2021, the inclusion of the prime minister’s photo on India’s COVID-19 vaccination certificates had caused a global stir.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
