NEW DELHI : Over 10 core people in the country are faced with denial of foodgrain and essentials distributed under Food Safety Scheme for want of ration cards. The situation is grim and stems from lack of will on part of Central and State authorities to prepare list of beneficiaries based on realistic population figures.
Prior to 2013, all households were provided ration supplies on subsidised rate. The rule changed since and bestowing the benefit on BPL cardholders alone. When lockdown shuttered economy countrywide, the Centre announced 5 kilo subsidised foodgrain per person to 80 lakh people. The figure was based on 2011 census which put population numbers at 121 crore, 67 percent of which totals to 80 lakh.
In reality, as per data from Registrar Offices for Births and Deaths, the current population tallies to 137.1 crore, a whopping rise of 16.1 crore in past 7 years. In effect, 92.1 crore citizens are eligible for subsidised ration which means, ver 10 lakh people are stranded outside the food safety limits, owing to Centre’s obsolete data premise,
Over seven lakh applications for new ration cards have been put aside by officials currently. The Centre is in no mood to expand list of beneficiaries and increase ration supplies, at least not now. And, most states play along keeping new applications for card on the hold. As a result, over 2.8 crore in UP, 17 crore in Bihar and 66 lakh in Maharashtra have been pushed out of the foodgrain distribution.
Incidentally, the gross denial comes at time when over 5.4 crore tonnes of foodgrain lie stacked in FCI warehouses across the country.
