The Kerala government has rejected the Centre’s directive to brand its ration shops under the centrally sponsored PM Garib Kalyan Yojana and install selfie points at the bigger ones with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday told the Assembly that the state would write to the Union government about its decision.

“It’s certainly part of the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls. We will inform the Centre that it is not right and it’ll be difficult to implement here,” Vijayan said. “We will also examine if this can be brought to the attention of the Election Commission.”

The Centre has sent the same directive to all the states. Sources said Kerala has 14,250 ration shops, with the bigger public distribution centres numbering around 550.

A senior official at Kerala’s food ministry, who declined to be named, mentioned two reasons why the state felt the branding instruction was unfair.

First, the Yojana, introduced during the pandemic and later extended, is to
be wrapped up by December 31 this year, leaving the states to shoulder the free-grain scheme entirely from next year.

Second, apart from distributing the Yojana’s 5kg free food grains to the eligible below-poverty-line (BPL) people — 43 per cent of Kerala’s population — the ration shops disburse state government-provided subsidised food grains to the remaining 57 per cent, too.

The states have also been directed to provide customers with bags that bear Modi’s photo and the Yojana’s name, and can carry loads of up to 10kg.

While the Centre is to supply the publicity materials, they are to be transported to the ration shops at state government expense.

With the state government rejecting the branding orders, the official said Kerala may have to pay for the Yojana food grains, meant for free distribution.

Rice row

The Centre recently launched the sale of “Bharat Rice” at a subsidised Rs 29 a kilo in Thrissur district, a Lok Sabha constituency the BJP has long been eyeing.

Coming close on the heels of two recent visits by the Prime Minister to the constituency, the subsidised rice is being sold directly from trucks and not through the public distribution outlets.

This apparent pre-election move has invited criticism, with state food and civil supplies minister G.R. Anil underlining that the state government’s outlets sold the same rice at a cheaper price.

“We sell the same quality rice through Supplyco (state-run supermarkets) outlets at Rs 24 a kilo,” he said.

“The same quality rice is already available for blue card-holders at Rs 4 a kilo, and at Rs 10.90 a kilo for white card-holders (two variants of above-poverty-line or APL cards) through ration shops.”

Kerala had earlier rejected the Union government’s directive to brand its health centres as Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, citing incompatibility with its linguistic and cultural ethos.

It has also refused to brand the state’s Life Mission housing project for the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.