The
poor riot, the PDS is in a shambles. What will the state do? ...
Queue up Women at a Delhi
ration shop
A Mess Called PDS
The XIth Plan report on the problems
with the public distribution system:
* In 2003-04, of the 14.1 mn tonnes of grain meant for BPL quota, only
6.1 tonnes reached the poor.
* There is massive pilferage/diversion of grains. In Bihar and Punjab,
leakage exceeds 75 per cent.
* Only 23 per cent fair-price shops nationwide viable. The rest thrive
by diverting/selling in the open market.
* Over 40 per cent cardholders bogus
* Computerisation of PDS operations, introduction of a smart card
system may improve monitoring mechanism
***
The ration riots last month in West Bengal brought a well known fact
into the public eye again—the poor of the land have no recourse even
with our much-vaunted public distribution system in place.
Three years ago, the government even
conceded in Parliament that 156.5 mt of grains had been
diverted.
And it wasn't an isolated incident either. In Bihar's Bodh Gaya
district also, people took to the streets after being denied their
quota of foodgrains. In fact, across the country complaints have been
mounting by the day against fair-price shops. The food stocks leaving
the godowns never seem to reach the poor. Much of it, it seems, is
diverted
and sold in the open market.
The Planning Commission's Eleventh Plan report (2007-12) gives shocking
details of the extent to which shoddy management and corruption plagues
the PDS. For example, during 2003-04, out of the 14.1 million tonnes of
BPL quota allotted from the central pool, only 6.1 million tonnes
reached the target segment. Eight million tonnes went unaccounted for.
A year later, only 42 per cent of subsidised grains issued reached the
people they were meant for. It still cost the public exchequer all of
Rs 2,579 crore. That's because only 23 per cent of India's fair-price
shops have been found 'viable'—implying the rest survived primarily on
leakages and diversion of foodgrains.
According to the Planning Commission, the current system of delivery
has 'inherent weaknesses'. In Bihar and Punjab, leakages exceed 75 per
cent while in Haryana and UP, it is between 50-75 per cent. In parts of
Jharkhand, pilferage is so high that people covered under the Antyodaya
scheme (for the poorest of the poor) don't get foodgrains for at least
eight months a year.
Balram, from the Public Health Resource Network Jharkhand, says,
"Starvation deaths are not uncommon here, people are deprived of
foodgrains for months together. Most of the time, the ration is lifted
straight from the godowns and sold to the flour mills. Fake entries are
shown on the ration cards. None of the poor families have got
foodgrains from the fair-price shops, and wheat is supposed to be
available here at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3."
The trade in foodgrains is entirely managed by a small group of traders
who usually swear allegiance to the ruling party, points out economist
Abhirup Sarkar of the Indian Statistical Institute. "Immediately after
a harvest, prices of grains drop and becomes affordable. But during the
lean season they shoot up, making it difficult for the poor to buy from
the open market. It is at this point that they turn to fair-price
shops," he says. There's more. "Unfortunately, most of those who run
these shops are connected with the traders and end up diverting the
grains to them for a commission. West Bengal, like other states, is not
immune to corruption. Here, the fair-price shops are cadre-controlled."
Part of the problem is the PDS system itself, a giant distribution
network of around 4.89 lakh fair-price shops spread across the country.
The central government procures and transports foodgrains through the
Food Corporation of India (FCI) and provides supplies to the fair-price
shops.
Three years ago, in reply to a question in Parliament, the government
officially conceded that nearly 156. 5 metric tonnes of grains meant
for the poor were diverted.
Many of the present ills of the PDS can be linked to the government's
gradual disengement from its sworn commitment—to provide essential
foodgrains to the needy. The trend began in the late '90s and still
continues. Prior to this, the dealership of fair-price shops was the
government's preserve. But gradually, it was handed over to those
private traders who enjoyed political patronage. Even in states with a
better track record, like Kerala, the problem exists. M.A. John, a
Congress leader from Kerala, admits to the same problems—foodgrains are
of poor quality, the shops are inadequately stocked and are usually run
by people close to politicians. "There's a strong nexus between
politicians and those who run fair-price shops," he says. Since '01,
every report looking into the ills of PDS has agreed that state
intervention and tighter vigilance is the only answer.
But in all this, there are also states which have been proactive in
getting their PDS house in order. In Chhattisgarh, the state has
decided to put in place an elaborate mechanism to check pilferage.
Biraj Patnaik, principal advisor, office of the commission of Supreme
Court on Right to Food, says, "Beginning with doorstep delivery of
foodgrains at fair-price shops to getting nearly 10,000 shops online
with a list of the state's card holders, Chhattisgarh will eventually
be able to track down the offtake of foodgrains by each of the 32 lakh
card holders." Incidentally, the SC after a
PIL in '01, now has its own
commissioners to inquire and report on
PDS wrangles.
Chhattisgarh has also had limited success in its attempts to check
diversion by transporters. Vehicles now have monitoring devices to
track their movement. More importantly, Patnaik says, the Chhattisgarh
government has stepped in to phase out private traders operating
fair-price shops. The state has also done away with the arbitrary BPL
lists and has declared that all those who figured in the list—at any
point of time—are entitled to grains from fair-price shops.
Many experts agree that the problem in implementing PDS also lies in
fixing on who should be end-beneficiaries. Clearly, the methodology
adopted to identify BPL families is subject to manipulation. More often
than not, it's also a political tool aimed at votebanks rather than a
genuine desire to identify the poor. The result: over 40 per cent
cardholders are bogus. The solution, say experts, lies in widening the
net of genuine subscribers. Currently, someone who earns Rs 11 per day
in rural areas and Rs 17 in urban areas is identified as BPL. This
amount, many feel, should be upped. At the other end, given the mess
the PDS is in, there are some in government who call for it to be wound
up. That is certainly not the answer given that 37 per cent of India
(official figure) can't do without social security.
