Why Modi & MPs should give Aadhaar number to avail subsidised lunch

In a surprise move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today ate lunch, we are told. The incident is said to have occurred around lunch time on Monday (March 3), when the PM, dressed in his usual workday dress, walked into Parliament canteen.

He then ate, reports indicated. Reports in some sections of the media indicated further that he ate a vegetarian thaali comprising sarson ka saag, aloo sabzi, rajma, rice, roti and curd. Modi paid Rs 29 for the meal, though there was no mention whether he reached into his right pocket or the left one to take out the wallet.

There were also lines/headlines suggesting the PM "enjoyed" the meal, but it could not be confirmed from independent sources whether he actually relished the food. Three observations from this breaking bit of news: 

1. The breaking-news bit in all this, of course, is that you get a full vegetarian thaali for Rs 29, a significant, eye-popping, brow-raising bit of news for most working professionals in Delhi-NCR. At many canteens these days, two samosas cost more than that, and two samosas and a cup of tea definitely costs more at ALL canteens.  

2. Many employees who regularly eat out, or have chai at the office canteen or the shops outside the premises, would also wonder whether the cashier gave him back a one-rupee coin if Modi paid by cash or gave him a one-rupee toffee or chewing gum. While the former - getting back the loose change - would increase a diner's balance, the latter helps the economy take a step, howsoever microscopic, towards regaining some muscle, as more toffees are sold, which in effect gives a tiny push to manufacturing, leading, hopefully, to better margins for the companies concerned and, sometime too far in the future for us to see right now, more jobs. It is also worth noting that if he does not enjoy his candies, mints and chewing gums, Modi could actually let that one rupee stay with the canteen cashier and have a vegetarian thaali for free on the 30th of every month. 

3. The meals for honourable MPs are subsidised. To a large extent, if not very heavily. This does not gel well with the overall disinvestment and subsidy-cut environment of the present dispensation at the Centre, said to be the country's first proper right-wing government by even people who click of "can't say" or "no opinion" in any poll.  

It is worth noting that given the overall mood against subsidy for anyone not directly benefitting from the said subsidy - which leaves a total of perhaps zero person in India, give or take one or two persons, but that is another story - Modi could do away with the meal subsidy in Parliament canteen. The vegetarian thaali can then be had for Rs 45, which is closer to the market rate for the thaali in most rundown, sarkari-type food outlet.

Alternatively, if the MPs do not want to give up the subsidy - who wants to, anyway? - the PM and his MPs who prefer vegetarian thaali could be asked to pay Rs 45 to the canteen cashier, and then finance minister Arun Jaitley's much-discussed JAM-or, Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile - trinity can be used to pay them back the remaining.

In effect, all the MPs have to do is submit their Aadhaar number and the Aadhaar-linked bank account to the canteen operator, and the finance ministry should have Rs 16 deposited in their bank account as part of the government's direct benefit scheme.