Mamata Banerjee launches scheme to provide meal at Rs 5 to poor people

Ahead of the Assembly election in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a scheme to provide a meal at a nominal price of Rs 5 to poor people. The “Maa” scheme comes from ruling Trinamool Congress’s (TMC’s) slogan of “Ma, Mati, Manush (Mother, soil, people)”.

They will get a platter of rice, dal, a vegetable and egg curry for Rs 5, she said adding that the state government will bear a subsidy of Rs 15 per plate.

Self-help groups will operate the kitchens from 1 pm to 3 pm every day and such kitchens will be set up everywhere in the state gradually, Mamata Banerjee said.

In 2013, the Jayalalithaa government offered breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the cost of Rs 5 through a chain of over 200 outlets in Tamil Nadu’s urban centres. Taking a cue from it, Bengal CM decided to go one step forward by offering the lunch package across the urban and semi-urban pockets of the state. 

Amma canteen scheme is believed to have played a key role in AIDMK’s sweeping victory by bagging 37 out of the 39 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.