Food security law provisions being flouted in Delhi: Study

Four years after the rollout of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), the public distribution system in Delhi is far from robust with lakhs of consumers at the mercy of ration dealers in the absence of transparency and grievance redress mechanisms, a study has claimed.
The study on the status of implementation of the Act in the national capital has claimed that ration shops routinely remain closed during working hours, dealers overcharge and supply foodgrains below prescribed limits, often of poor quality, while the city government looks the other way.
The study, undertaken by the Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan and Satark Nagrik Sangathan over 2016-17, focused on 221 shops (approximately 10 per cent of the total ration shops in Delhi) located across eight districts.

The study claims to have found that 60 per cent of the shops were closed during working hours, which is illegal and constitutes a ground for revocation of license under the law.
Since the legislation was enforced, more than 19 lakh ration cards have been issued in Delhi, which has around 2,257 fair price shops.
In many shops, it was found that the information on the scale of entitlement and price was outdated and related to categories of ration cards which have been discontinued since the implementation of the NFSA, which essentially means consumers were being overcharged and deprived of enhanced benefits, the study claims.

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) was passed by Parliament in 2013. Under the Act, up to 50 per cent of the urban population and up to 75 per cent of rural population are entitled to subsidised grains under the PDS.

Families under the Antodaya category are entitled to 35 kg subsidised foodgrains per family per month while those identified as priority households are entitled to 5 kg, including rice and wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kg respectively.
Most often shopkeepers indulge in corruption by overcharging or undersupplying for each category of ration card, the report said.

"Only 55 per cent of the surveyed shops displayed details regarding quantity of entitlements for different ration cards while 57 per cent provided details of the prices of foodgrains for different categories of ration cards," it said.
Other key findings of the report include the fact that only six per cent of the surveyed shops were found displaying details of their stock received during the month while only 16 per cent displayed the daily opening and closing of stock of each foodgrain, in violation of laid down norms.
This assumes importance as often ration is denied to cardholders on the pretext that the government has not supplied the requisite stock of foodgrains to the shop, the study, anchored by academics Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri and Dipa Sinha among others, observed.

The Delhi government has designated the Additional District Magistrates (ADMs) as the District Grievance Redress Officers (DGRO) while the Public Grievance Commission has been designated as the State Food Commission, bodies mandated to be set up under the Act.
Johri, who is associated with the Satark Nagrik Sangathan, said the situation is such that none of the 221 shops audited displayed information regarding the designation of ADMs as DGROs and their contact details.
The Supreme Court had on July 21 observed that the Act has not been implemented properly, and it is a "pity" that a legislation enacted by Parliament for citizens' benefit was kept on the "back-burner" by various states.

The court had said that non-compliance to the provisions reduces the importance of a basic right to wholesome and nutritious food, particularly for women and children which is the objective of the Act.