DECODING P.D.S.

Nearly 56000 crore was spend on food subsidies in 2011-12, the objective is surely to provide the most intensive food security network across the country, we must understand that the procurement, storage, transportation expenses are paid by the central government, while identification of poor (BPL,APL) and distribution through fair price shop is done by the state government.

Generally a bar coded coupon is given to the beneficiary, over which quantity of food grain (rice and wheat, 10 and 15 kg) and subsidised price that has to be paid by the beneficiary , is also written on the coupon. Technically, dealer should charge that written amount and supply written quantity of food grain but it never happens anywhere in India, and that is a bitter fact.

How does it starts, let me begin it from bottom to top, when a beneficiary goes to the shop he is being supplied only 80% of the printed quantity but he is charged the full printed amount on the coupon, and if dealer is honest then only he will get this supply regularly every month, then why doesn’t he revolt, because dealer is a muscleman he can simply deny any one to supply the grain. Dealer’s excuse for this act------ he gets less quantity from the SFC (state food corp. Warehouse from where he lifts the supply), what actually happens is that in SFC the gunny bags is also weighted along with the food grains, and every bag does not necessarily contain the standard 50 k.g. in the best possible case the average is 45 kg per bag while dealer has to assume and pay for 50 k.g in each bag.

Dealer is given lifting order for the same quantity which he has distributed last month, now dealer creates the fake records and secure more supply, out of this secured supply some 25% is never actually lifted by dealer from the SFC rather he sells there itself on little less than market price, this is the same 25% that he makes cut at the time of distribution, plus some of the coupon holders never turn up to claim the food grains so he saves this quantity as well. Dealer is not alone in this nexus, the SFC secures grains from FCI on weight without bag basis, means 50 quintal may be 110 bags, but FCI always assumes every bag contains 50 kg when it supplies to dealers. Now SFC saves lot of bags, these bags are sold in the underground  market to wholesaler, grain dealers and in mandis, the transporters have active role to play in this as they move the trucks from here to there. The FCI knows all this but they also have some interest in this play and they take their own share. At every stage supervisory structure chooses to close the eyes as they have their own share in this whole game.

Well , I am not blaming or saying that this is what exactly happens everywhere, modes may be different, but then if we have to look the whole system, we will find that over the years system has improved a lot and from the siphoning off of 50-60% it has reduced to 15%-20%, well this is no excuse, but we have consider the mammoth scale at which it operates , sheer number of people it involves, and the deep importance it holds for the food security.  What’s needed is not the complete overhaul but the gradual improvement, because no alternate system is practical on ground at least for the time being