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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cracks In The Silo Wall by Lola Nayar

Cracks In The Silo Wall by Lola Nayar

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published Published on Apr 3, 2010   modified Modified on Apr 3, 2010

Flaws In The PDS…

Poor verification norms, over two crore bogus BPL cards
Over 1.2 crore BPL families don’t have a ration card
No monitoring, resulting in pilferage, gaps in delivery, poor quality foodgrains
Poor profit margins a major cause for corruption
Lack of information hinders benefits from reaching the poor

…and the Solutions

Base fair price shops on new business model
The Centre takes ‘responsibility’ for delivery in states
Make verification of beneficiaries an annual affair
Computerise ration card database, operations to curb malpractices
Improve monitoring through community involvement, complaint redressal

***

After an empty political gesture, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel. The resurrection of the National Advisory Council (NAC) has now rekindled hope that the upa’s proposed food security legislation will be reworked to focus on the nutritional health of the truly vulnerable. For, the draft National Food Security Bill—recently approved by the empowered group of ministers (EGOM)—has followed a “minimalist approach”, by focusing on the poverty numbers game and not giving away anything extra.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. With over 40 per cent of children below five years and a high percentage of young women suffering from malnutrition, the framers of the earlier draft of the bill had sought to bring several other vulnerable sections—including the handicapped and elderly destitute—under the food security net. That’s why agriculture scientist Dr M.S. Swaminathan says he’s hopeful the NAC will recast the “shameful” food security legislation draft to address nutritional needs of the poor.

The fact is, its focus on purely meeting financial commitments has sidelined the real issue facing the delivery of nutrition to the poor: improving the much-maligned public distribution system (PDS) network, which is crucial for effective intervention. Wouldn’t PDS reforms work to contain the food subsidy bill more effectively, while ensuring the real poor get not just sustenance but also keep good health? “Of course,” says N.C. Saxena, Supreme Court food commissioner, “But it’s not sexy to talk about the nitty-gritty. The rhetorical issues are useless.”

Reflecting the government thinking, Union minister of state for agriculture and food Prof K.V. Thomas says, “We have ambitions, but there are restrictions of money and also of availability of foodgrain.” Considering the wide differences in the BPL family estimates, the government justifies its conservative approach due to fears of a hefty subsidy bill. That’s because once the legislation is enacted, “even if there is food scarcity due to any reason, we will have to provide subsidised food grains to the card-holders,” points out Thomas.

The fact that “PDS is not 100 per cent accurate” remains a major challenge, admits the minister. A widespread problem is that many states have not issued ration cards to genuine BPL families, or they have been issued to excluded categories. He cites the example of Maharashtra, with over five lakh fake cards, and Kerala, which has an estimated one lakh bogus cards despite being one of the better managed PDS states. In some states, Thomas admits, the number of cards issued is more than the population.

Apart from concerns about paucity of funds for the new food security bill commitments, there is anxiety that much of the money allocated for it will vanish, just as it does in the PDS. Officials in the pmo admit that not much thought is being given to the delivery mechanism, even though that is where the focus should be. But by not tackling the problems in the PDS, is the government assuming the problem of delivery cannot at all be solved?

A study of PDS in 12 states over the last three years by Dr Parmod Kumar of the Bangalore-based Institute for Social and Economic Change shows the extent of the damage. The “inclusion error”—people getting cards they do not deserve—was the highest at 75 per cent in Mizoram and Kerala; 50 to 60 per cent in Assam, Delhi and Maharashtra; around 50 per cent in Rajasthan and Bihar; around 35 per cent in Chhattisgarh and 20 to 30 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, MP and Uttarakhand.

When it comes to “exclusion error”—genuine BPL families not getting the benefits—the data indicated that the phenomenon of poor households not being issued BPL cards was high in Jharkhand, Kerala, MP and Uttarakhand. Indeed, the problems with the PDS—from faulty identification to diversion—are well known. But the government doesn’t seem keen to tackle them, and is instead looking at issuing food coupons or direct cash transfer to beneficiaries.

Alas, few attempts—like Chhattisgarh adopted five years back (see box)—are being considered to improve the public distribution of foodgrains. On a smaller scale, many panchayats and self-help groups in states like West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra and even Bihar, where the World Bank is providing funds and technical support, are coming forward to show how a well-managed PDS can improve access to food and health outcomes.

The fundamental problem, as Saxena puts it, is that “the central government has no sense of ownership of PDS”. That is, unlike government-run schemes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and National Rural Health Mission, where the central government has been known to pull up the state governments for not doing well. Experts feel that regular monitoring, at least annually, would have improved the functioning of the PDS and plugged many of the leakages and corrected the exclusion of deserving cases.

Instead, the proposed food security legislation seems to be moving off tangent and diluting the provisions for the real poor. In addition, it is exploring alternatives to the network of 5,00,000 fair price shops, the largest of its kind. As CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat puts it, “The  aim seems to be to scrap the PDS and give less to the poor instead of addressing the problems of public distribution.”

In its present form, the draft bill limits the central government liability to providing subsidised foodgrains or funds in lieu, while states will have the onus of overseeing implementation. Union rural development minister C.P Joshi points out that a major flaw in the PDS system is the tendency of states not to lift apl quota of foodgrains, which are priced higher than stocks for BPL schemes. So while stocks pile up in government silos, the poor go without ration.

While some experts are arguing in favour of reverting back to the universal PDS, the government seems keen to experiment with food coupons or cash transfer. Neither option seems viable when the PDS is in a shambles and rural banking penetration remains poor. One wonders why the government can’t focus on making fair price shops more profitable by upgrading their business profile and making communities active partners in the outcomes? Active mechanisms to include the deserving and weed out bogus claimants will also help.

Instead of rushing through, the government should learn from its own experience of schemes like nrega to realise that only a robust PDS can fulfil food security and nutrition needs. A mere legislation will not help.

 

Outlook, April, 2010, http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264898


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