Thoughts on Implementation of PDS and Food Security

The Tendulkar committee report says that 37% of the Indian population is below the poverty line, a figure accepted by the Planning Commission of India and going by this figure, the number of poor in India easily exceeds the poor in the poorest of African countries which is around 410million. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the government must step in to ensure the basic necessities of life to all its citizens. But recently, we have been dithering on providing the most essential of survival needs, namely food to our people. For 64 years, we have tried various ways to ensure we have enough food production to meet the needs of our population and we succeeded in that and now we even export food grains. We currently have buffer stock far exceeding our requirement, but unfortunately grain is rotting due to lack of storage facilities and lying in warehouses far beyond their period of safe consumption. The Hon'ble Supreme court observed that rather than letting grains rot, it would be better to distribute it for free to the needy(1) (2).

Our current debate on food security revolves around two aspects, the much criticised Public Distribution System (PDS) and the proposed National Food Security Bill. PDS is implemented by various state governments with financial assistance from the central government and various states vary in its implementation. Kerala provides, atleast on paper, food grains to its entire population regardless of their economic status and although the need for subsidised grains even to the rich or even the middle class is debatable, this ensures that no one among the needy is left out of this absolutely essential safety net. In states with targetted PDS, it is plagued by leakages and duplication of ration cards that are essential to prove ones entitlement to subsidised grain. This means that grains can be diverted and sold to open markets with the help of forged ration cards and the really needy are left out either because they don't have the ration card or the grains have been already diverted.

As the benefits do not reach the intended target population which has lead several states to try out direct cash transfers and coupons that can be used in any PDS outlet. But these too are facing several issues as several shops provide less than the entitled quantity of grains and do not accept coupons*. Direct cash transfer is also not preferred since these can be misused by other members in the family. Even direct bank transfers (they need to open a bank account first) is not preferred by the poor because these places do not have access to banks. The only solution we have right now is the current system of subsidies through PDS which has to be modified to ensure fair distribution of items especially to the most vulnerable in the society. The proposed food security bill intends to make the same mistake of targeting those eligible for food security and this can only lead to misuse of food grains and the intended beneficiaries being left in the lurch. Many of the poor are migrant labourers with their families in the villages in another part of the country and so providing ration cards for the entire family will leave the migrants out if targeting is made the norm.

What we need is universal coverage which will ensure that none of the more than 450million poor in India are denied access to this essential necessity. We have the working model in Kerala which has drawn positive response from all households in the state and we need to extend it to the whole country. This will involve the government increasing its grain procurement monumentally and we also need to build from scratch the infrastructure to transport and store large quantities of grain and ensure they are not wasted and do not go bad. We need cold storages and transport facilities and this is not just for our food grains but also for our vegetables and fruits-a third of produce is wasted due to absence of such facilities(3)- which can be achieved by partnering with railways and inviting private investors that include retailers and large farmers or their co-operatives. Implementation of supply-chain mechanism is absolutely essential to ensure our population has access to food grains as well as vegetables and fruits and this will also provide enhanced income to our farmers who toil in the sun to feed our nation. Innovations like real time tracking of movement of goods as the ones implemented by courier services will be cheap cheap and effective. Technology like Radio Frequency Identification  (the access cards of almost all employees in IT companies use this) are cheap and can be easily implemented, anti-theft devices are installed in even the smallest items of clothing in most major retail outlets, barcodes have been in use for a long time and this shows it is possible to implement technology on a large scale in a cost effective manner.

Such massive changes will involve naturally a few conflicts and these have to be solved before we can roll out such an ambitious programme. As the government increases its procurement, it will lead to shortage of grains available for the open market. It is the open market that the rest of  our population depends on and this is because grains available in PDS shops are of not of unquestionable quality. Even in Kerala with universal coverage of PDS, those who can afford it, buy their grains from the open market because of issues with quality and timely availability. Hence, it must be ensured that grains are of good quality, are available for sale all the time and open market prices do not spiral out of control and if it does, government must release its own stock from warehouses to bring down prices. It is also possible to try direct transfer of cash to bank accounts, not just for subsidy in food grains but also in fuel, education and healthcare but then they could still be misused even if access to banking is improved. There is also the question of money as the government might not be able to procure the entire amount necessary for the population, but the fact that food grains are rotting in government warehouses is appalling and so the attempt is to distribute already procured grain to the needy.

The issue of subsidy is still a raging debate- whether the government should have direct involvement or should it just provide direct benefits to the needy. On paper, the UIDAI project will identify every citizen and whether they require welfare assistance and then government will provide direct cash to these individuals for food grains, education, healthcare and whatever necessity including disaster relief. They can then use the services of whichever provider they deem suitable and this will remove the need for leaky dysfunctional government organisations like teacher less schools, PDS shops that never open and doctorless hospitals.


Such an implementation is still a long way away as we still have not figured out the way to implement the UID project and its nuances. The government should not quit from providing these essential services completely but should stay on as a benchmark, a low-cost option and there is also the issue of accessibility in many places as private enterprises and individuals may not be interested in working in far flung areas.
The goal of a hunger free nation is within our reach, is well within our resources and it is our moral responsibility to bring such a future to reality and erase the ignominy of a new economic power that sends satellites to space but still has the highest population of poor in the world



http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article617813.ece - 1
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article605557.ece - 2


http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/india-wastes-59-mt-fruits-vegetables-every-year/119841/on -3





http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2827/stories/20120113282710100.htm - *