New Delhi, July 14: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today committed his government to food and financial security for poor sections of the society and senior citizens saying that every step would be taken to improve the delivery mechanism for providing grains at the cheapest possible rates. Launching the insurance-linked pension scheme for senior citizens, as announced in the union budget for 2003-04, Vajpayee asked finance and health ministers to ensure effective implementation of the scheme, which gives the policy holders a steady stream of 9 per cent return, irrespective of the fall in interest rates in the country.

Commenting on delays and lapses in the announcement and implementation of various schemes announced in the budget by the previous governments, Vajpayee asserted that his government was making a special effort for effectively implementing the schemes announced by it and the launch of the pension scheme was an example of it.
Vajpayee said that if there were reports of any starvation deaths in the country it was not due to non-availability of foodgrains. "The defect, if any, lies with our distribution system.”

"Today we are able to provide food to the poor at the cheapest rate anywhere in the world," he said and added that government`s ongoing antyodaya scheme to provide subsidised food to the poor was meant for food security.

Bureau Report