Kathmandu, June 30
The government of Nepal is planning to distribute ration cards to poor families. The Ministry of Supplies is preparing to constitute a committee to move the project ahead by conducting a study.
The government appears to have realised the need to intervene in the interest of the poor to raise their living standards, hence the move. Among others, poor families from Nepal’s food-insecure hills and mountainous districts face famine every now and then.
Keeping such factors in mind, officials at the ministry say preparations are afoot to introduce the ration card in a bid to provide foodstuffs to poor households at subsidised rates.
Ananda Raj Regmi, acting secretary and spokesperson for the ministry, told Onlinekhabar: The government is conducting a formal study to know about policy requirements and make preparations required for introducing the ration card.
He said: The idea is to provide food and other essentials to the real poor at subsidised rates. Preparations for forming a study committee to push the project ahead are in the final stage.
Regmi said: Ration card is a new concept for us, so there’s confusion on policy intervention and technical preparations that the project calls for. In the first phase, we will conduct a study that will suggest the government how to move ahead. We will initiate other processes after that.
The committtee will comprise supply ministry officials, experts and consumer rights activists, Regmi said.
