By Vestnik Kavkaza
Earlier this week, Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered the relevant ministries to develop a project of food assistance to those in need, after a session on cooperation between agricultural producers, selling units, and other subjects of selling business. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is dealing with the issue together with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finances, and the Ministry of Labor. According to plans of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, people with low incomes will be issued banking cards which can be used to pay for food. The card has already been nicknamed a “ration card.”
A member of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes, Anton Ishchenko, thinks the idea is untimely: “It should have been done 10 years ago or 15 years ago, when the state had to show that we had a good economy, and we took care of the poor. The name is selected extremely poorly - ration cards. It just sends us back to the 1930s, or the 1980s, and creates a certain nervousness among the population. We have already entered a serious economic crisis, and people understand that the government does not seem to have any suggestions except for giving these ration cards to everyone. We will stand in lines again. There is unnecessary hype over the initiative.”
Ishchenko thinks the government should work on the image of the action seriously, in order to avoid the psychological, moral nuances that may arise from the population regarding the proposal.
Concerning the problems which may occur during implementation of the program, the MP said: “We have one problem - a lack of finances. There will be a severe shortage in regional budgets. Relying on experience of the Kirov Region, the government is trying to start a new program. It requires simple subsidies from the regional budget, allocation of additional funds, but only 16 million rubles have been allocated at the moment.
More than 3000 families have received such cards, 46 local manufacturers have joined this program. For the budget, 16 million is also money, of course, and it needs to be found. And just look at the efficiency with which the program is working this year. There is no support for agriculture and agro-processing. A government approach is needed here, a totally different system of motivation is needed, and totally different financing is needed, as well as a different name. The image of the program needs to be changed, and it's probably not ration cards, these should be social cards, maybe this way it would be easier for society to understand.”
