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| Plugging the leaks | | The PDS system can be reformed without waiting for UIDAI |
| Business Standard / New Delhi Jul 15, 2010, 00:12 IST |
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The two-day Centre-state meet on revamping the public distribution system (PDS), with an eye to the likely enactment of the National Food Security Law, has harped on the same measures that have been talked about for long. These include the computerisation of PDS operations, timely delivery of stocks to PDS outlets, and proper identification of the beneficiaries, especially those entitled to the below-poverty-line (BPL) cards, based on the latest poverty and population counts. The only new development at the meet was the formal launch of the “smart card” project on a pilot basis in Haryana, to curb leakages and corruption in the “targeted PDS” programme. However, even this initiative has taken over two years to materialise, as it was announced in the 2008-09 Budget speech by the then finance minister, P Chidambaram. Nevertheless, its launch is a potential precursor to the much bigger initiative mooted by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The proposed system stipulates the use of a biometric ID number for issuance of any ration card, and linking all ration shops electronically with the government agencies involved in foodgrain distribution. This, it is hoped, will ensure both transparency and accountability.
These are medium-term solutions; what about short-term steps to arrest the rampant diversion of highly subsidised foodgrain from the PDS, and the flawed distribution of ration cards as reflected in both the large number of bogus cards and the exclusion of a sizable chunk of the genuinely poor from the PDS? Surveys have revealed that over 40 per cent of PDS grain does not reach the poor. Since the government supplies wheat and rice for BPL households at Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg, respectively, the subsidy on these staple cereals works out to over 80 per cent. As for ration card distribution, the government recently conceded in Parliament that 110.8 million cards were in circulation in March 2010, against the estimate of 65.3 million BPL families. Should this situation be allowed to continue until the UIDAI-proposed initiative is in place, and the entire PDS network is computerised?
One option would be to review and verify the BPL cards, preferably in meetings of Gram Sabhas (people’s assembly) and not just panchayat officials. The diversion of foodgrain can also be curbed by making the timing and the quantum of foodgrain allocated to the PDS shops transparent, as has been done with considerable success in Chhattisgarh. All that needs to be done is to inform, by whatever means, a few members of the public in a locality about the supply of grains to the ration shops concerned. Several states have expressed their willingness to undertake such an exercise. The other states should also be asked to fall in line.
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