Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday claimed that a part of the money Indians spend on foreign goods is eventually used to fuel terrorism and destabilise the country as he appealed to ration shop dealers to promote indigenous and locally made products through the state’s ‘Annapurna Bhavans’.
The chief minister urged ration dealers to use their shops and warehouses not only for foodgrain distribution but also to promote local products. He said ration distribution took only seven to 10 days of the month and the warehouses could be used during the remaining period to generate additional income. The chief minister also announced a major financial benefit for more than 78,000 fair price shop dealers in the state, increasing their margin from ₹ 90 to ₹ 125 per quintal. He said the ₹ 35 increase included ₹ 10 from the Centre and ₹ 25 from the state government. The state has also written to the Centre seeking another ₹ 25 increase, he said. The chief minister also claimed that the public distribution system had undergone a major transformation since 2017.
“When our money goes abroad, a part of it is spent against us to fuel terrorism and destabilise India,” Adityanath said. One District One Product (ODOP) items and locally made goods, he said, could be displayed and sold during festivals such as Holi and Diwali. “Give priority to swadeshi and work towards making local global,” Adityanath said, adding that such an initiative could begin at the village level and help strengthen local artisans, craftsmen and the wider economy. He said around 300 of every 1,000 complaints received during Janata Darshan in 2017 were related to irregularities in ration distribution, whereas “now not a single complaint comes”.
The government, he said, had also provided free LPG connections to two crore families and electricity connections to 1.53 crore families, while 10,000 ration shops were being developed as Annapurna Bhavans.
