The Government already feeds 11 million people and believes that this figure will continue for years

Eduardo Paladini

09/06/2020 - 17:08

• Clarín.com

• Politics

It is the essential within the essential.

And it shows the impact of the crisis in the lower sectors.

The

, almost a quarter of the country's population, and believes that this figure will continue for years;

even as the coronavirus pandemic passes and the economy heads to a new normal.

Demand was already high, in a country that has been in recession for three consecutive years, but had a

, in March.

"In 15 days we went from feeding 8 million to having to assist 11 million", summarizes the Minister of Social Development of the Nation, Daniel Arroyo.

The first declared objective for that portfolio, announced in the campaign and with a committee where different actors from society joined -from Marcelo Tinelli to Juan Grabois-, was precisely a

.

But from being the first program of the ministry, it became the only one.

More data to measure the crisis:

and only 10% to plans linked to employment.

As of July 31, some 70,000 million pesos were allocated to this item, at a rate of almost 14 million per day.

"And in all of 2019 28,000 million had been spent," they compare in Development.

The photo of the first official meeting of the Council against Hunger, on December 20.

Among others, Tinelli, Carlotto and Caparrós.

That week exploited in 15 days is what, as they continue to argue in the Ministry, generated the need to go out to buy food urgently and ended with a complaint of overpricing that the Justice is still investigating and with

"From there, maximum prices were established and the number of bidders was expanded," they say near Arroyo.

Anyway, the providers remain basically the same.

Beyond the scandal, the bulk of food spending is not the purchases made by the State but

into the Alimentar Card (between 4,000 and 6,000 pesos per beneficiary per month, depending on the number of children).

Plastics, a complement to the Universal Child Allowance, have already been fully distributed and reach 1.5 million people.

So far this year, they explain 52,000 of the 70,000 million pesos in the plan.

The Minister of Social Development, Daniel Arroyo, during an interview with Clarín in early January.

Photo Juano Tesone.

Two other central lines of spending are the food bags distributed by the Ministry, basically

, and the funds that go to the mayors, to decentralize purchases and streamline the process.

As

, the power of social movements increased exponentially during the administration of Cambiemos, because they became the main actor for the distribution of food, which grew from 1 million to 8 million kilos of food per month.

And that influence

, in 2019, because the logic of the previous 12 K years returned: piqueteros leaders sat in high positions of Social Development.

Two examples:

, from the Evita Movement;

and

, from branch K of Barrios de Pie.

Grabois -CTEP- also has officials who respond to him, although he did not join in the first person.

This tension over the management of internal power has now become explicit again with the problem of taking over land in the Province.

The star crossing was carried out by

- former Social Development official in the first K governments and now head of Buenos Aires Security - and

, leader of Evita and presidential advisor with an office in La Rosada.

The quarrels have been going on for more than 10 years.

More employment plans and percentages that scare

Within the Social Development projections, food assistance will continue to play a central role.

"If things improve, it can drop from 11 to 10.5 million, but not much more. It is

" they evaluate in the Ministry.

The objective now is to return to qualitative objectives: "Before the coronavirus, more than 60% of the Alimentar Card

. With the crisis, the proportion dropped to 49%, because people returned to buy more flour and noodles to make the silver yield more. "

Another side of the crisis: in emergency neighborhoods, due to food problems, many children are

.

In parallel, it is expected to be able to advance in the other central leg of Social Development management: employment.

"If now the budget execution ratio is 90 to 10, by the end of the year

Not because it drops in food, but because it increases in the plans related to employment," they told

.

A land seizure in La Plata.

Another side of the problems due to the social crisis.

Photo Mauricio Nievas.

When the government changed, the Frente de Todos summarized the social scenario in three data: about 40% of general poverty, 50% of child poverty and 40% of labor informality.

It is discounted that

with the coronavirus / quarantine combination.

For UNICEF, for example, child poverty already exceeds 60%.

This month, the poverty and indigence data for

the first half of the year will be released.

Due to the isolation restrictions, it is not clear if Indec was able to repeat a methodology that involved 13,000 face-to-face visits.

There are also doubts with unemployment data, because of the way in which the impact of the IFE will be measured, the subsidy of 10,000 pesos.

In Social Development, for now they prefer to focus on the basics.

"There is no doubt that this government took care of the most neglected. But

" they conclude.

The essential of the essential, in a poor and increasingly unequal country, where not so long ago someone mocked that it was better than Germany.