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PDS Should Be For Poorest:EXCESS FOOD, NO MORSEL TO EAT, by Dr. Vinod Mehta, 31 January 2008 Print E-mail

ECONOMIC HIGHLIGHTS

New Delhi, 31 January 2008 

PDS Should Be For Poorest

EXCESS FOOD, NO MORSEL TO EAT

By Dr. Vinod Mehta

(Former Director, Research, ICSSR)

Over four years ago, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee admitted that the implementation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) had not measured up to the public’s expectation. He observed that the targeted PDS did not seem to be working well in many places especially in the rural North and North-Eastern States. He confessed this while inaugurating a seminar on “Towards a Hunger Free India” organized jointly by the Planning Commission, World Food Programme and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.

At another forum he expressed his concern over the peculiar dilemma the country faced: of excess food and low consumption. Recall, in 2002 some of the NGOs had reported tribal deaths due to starvation in Rajasthan’s Baran district and Kashipur in Orissa. Primarily because the people could not afford to buy the grains even at the subsidized rates.

Not only that. Many of them did not even possess the Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards that entitled them to purchase foodgrains at subsidized rates in ration shops. Some of them even mortgaged their BPL cards to money lenders or local traders.

Though no starvation deaths have been reported in recent times yet it is also well known that food is not reaching the targeted poor people. It is in this context that the functioning of the PDS needs a closer look, is suitably revised and revamped so that food reaches the really needy people.

Look at the irony. Despite surplus food stocks, reportedly at least 50 million Indians are on the brink of starvation and over 200 million Indians are under-fed. Scandalously, about 60 million tonnes of surplus foodgrain is rotting in various Government warehouses in the country.

Clearly, the fact that people are starving when there is a surplus of grains is an indictment of the Government’s Public Distribution System. The PDS has a network of about 4,60,000 ration shops across the country through which grain, sugar, cooking oil etc are sold at subsidized rates.

It is reported that at the national level leakages from the PDS amount to nearly 1.5 times the actual amount of grain needed. A Planning Commission report on the PDS states: “In the year 2003-04, out of 14.07 million tonnes of foodgrain issued to 16 States at BPL prices from the Central pool, only around 5.93 million tonnes were delivered to the poor families.”

Also remember, the need for the PDS was felt in 1958 when the food production had dropped. Prior to that there was the rationing system which was introduced during the Second World War to manage the limited food stock but this was discontinued in 1943. It was again introduced in 1950 to regulate the public distribution of foodgrain as a deliberate social policy.

The main idea behind the public distribution system was: a) to provide foodgrain and other items of daily necessities to the poorer sections of the society at affordable (subsidized) price; b) to influence the market prices of cereals to keep them under control and c) to ensure equity in the matter of distribution of essential commodities. In other words, the PDS from rationing evolved into a national food security system.

The PDS was established during the period when India was facing shortages of essential agricultural commodities. For a number of years it served the purpose well for which it was introduced. However, today we have reached a situation where there is no shortage of foodgrain etc. but still some of the poorer sections of the society are not getting the foodgrain they need.

This has been attributed to various factors. One, the PDS itself leaves much to be desired. The grain, though available in godowns, is unable to reach those sections of the society which need them the most. The district Administration has been found wanting in transporting the grain to the poorest of the people.

Two, even after subsidies, the price of grain is so high, due to the increase in the procurement price of grain along with the rising components of cost of the Food Corporation of India, that many poor people in the target group cannot afford to buy it. It is common knowledge that approximately 36% of the population live below the poverty line which means that their income is not sufficient to buy adequate quantity of food. Also, about 80% of the poor people live in rural and tribal areas.

Three, the poorest sections of the society are not able to meet their food requirements because our PDS concentrates heavily on rice and wheat and leaves out coarse grain like maize, barley, millet and sorghum.

Moreover, the Government’s support to rice and wheat has led to the neglect of these grains which are not only relatively cheaper but the staple diet of many of the rural people. Since there is no support price for them the farmers are shifting to wheat and rice production. Hence, we have a situation where the Government policy has favoured wheat and rice production at the cost of the poor peoples’ staple diet.

However, as the things stand, there is a surplus of grain but people do not have the sufficient purchasing power to meet their requirements from the market. Undoubtedly, the country needs to approach this problem at various levels.

First, the employment opportunities for the BPL people will have to be increased so that they can earn enough to buy their grain requirement from the market. Plainly, they need remunerative employment on a regular basis. The food-for-work programme is not enough. It needs to be strengthened. 

Second, we should look at the institutional arrangements to distribute the foodgrain directly to the starving people. In such cases there is no need of selling them any grain as they can’t afford to buy. But at the same time, institutions like the Panchayats should see to it that these people do not go hungry. The district Administration should help the Panchayats organize community kitchens and the cost for giving food to them should be borne by the Government itself.

Third, the emphasis should be shifted from the production of rice and wheat to the production of coarse grain which is cheaper and affordable for many of the poorer sections of the society. Unlike rice and wheat, coarse grains do not need a lot of water and fertilizer and are cheaper to grow in areas of scarce water.

That apart, since the output of grain has reached a comfortable level, questionably is it essential to keep large quantities of grain in state godowns beyond a certain level? The cost of storing so much grain is also responsible for keeping the prices very high. We may have to think of alternative ways of storing grains so that the costs become lower. Keeping in view the costs involved, it is uneconomical to store grain by the State beyond a certain level.

One way could be to issue food coupons so that the poorest people may buy their food requirements from the market and the State reimburses the money to the shopkeeper. But it will be difficult to implement this in tribal and remote areas.

However, the nation must find a way out to balance the grain storage requirement of the nation from the security point of view and the need of the poorest people to get food. The money saved on storage costs could perhaps be used to give free grain to the poorest people in times of distress.

The long term solution however, is to generate jobs and give adequate purchasing power to the poorest of the people so that they can purchase their own food from the market.---- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)

 

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