The Maharashtra government continues to use a 2002 list denying over
50 lakh of below poverty line (BPL) people who barely earn enough for
one meal a day, access to food, despite the fact that local bodies have
sent fresh lists for 2012 to the state.
That this is being done by a government, which used targeted public
distribution system for all poor, as a major plank in its 2009 campaign
to come into power is baffling, say activists working for food security.
Many
like Kishor Tiwari president Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti(VJAS) point
out how this violates Supreme Court (SC) guidelines in its 2001 order
(while hearing a PIL by People's Union for Civil Liberties) asking
state governments to update BPL lists in keeping with local civic
bodies’ lists. “We found this out when the government submitted an
affidavit to the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court which is hearing a
PIL filed by VJAS following large scale starvation deaths among Kolam
tribals in Yavatmal five years ago. The local collector on one hand
told the court that the state strictly follows the SC 2001 order and
updates BPL lists annually. On the other, he admitted that on the
ground a 2002 BPL survey is considered for selecting families for food
security under the PDS.
What’s worse despite deaths, in a clear
case of a mockery of the 'right to food,' Maharashtra has denied food
security to more than a lakh tribal and Dalit BPL families facing
malnutrition and starvation in Yavatmal. To highlight this, a huge
protest rally is being organised, on December 26th in Pandharkawda,
Yavatmal.
“These are desperate people battling hunger and death.
The government should realise what it means when people with nothing to
lose take to the street,” warned Tiwari.
This is not a problem of
rural Maharashtra alone, in fact it is worse in urban areas.
Particularly in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital where a Mumbai
University study has already established that how both malnutrition and
hunger are much worse than in remote tribal areas.
“Mumbai has
one of the highest number of hungry in the country. Almost half of our
children are malnourished and as per global hunger index (GHI) 2011.
Given that India is home to one fourth of world’s hungry, its position
is already the worst not only in South Asia, but also among sub-Saharan
countries, you know how scary that makes Mumbai look like. It is
strange to understand that this should be a problem of the financial
capital of India which positions itself as an emerging economic
super-power,” pointed right-to-food activist Ananda Pawar who works in
Dharavi.
The minister for food and civil supplies Anil Deshmukh
has often taken the stand that there is limited availability of food
under government sponsored schemes. “Despite the shortfall, Maharashtra
has one of the best records in food distribution and supply,” he
insists but seems at a loss to explain why the BPL lists have not been
updated for over a decade. When asked about the regular rotting food
grains for lack of adequate storage in government run godowns he passed
the buck to the Centre. “We are cracking down on pilferage and losses,”
he offered and raised the issue of bogus cards.
According to him
a state government drive to detect bogus cards which began in 2005 has
led to the cancellation of 5.3 million such cards till 2011. Over 3
years, from 2005 to 2008, the state cancelled about 2.9 million cards.
Then, over 2009-2010, the government cancelled about 1.2 million cards.
Finally, in 2011, during the detection drive, about another 1.1 million
were cancelled. Incidentally the government's own figures show that as
on 1st April, 2012, the state had a mere 22 million ration cards in a
total population of 112.37 million!
Activists however allege that
the government raises the bogey of bogus cards only to abdicate from
PDS. “This is a ploy to get private players in and throw the poor to
their mercy,” says Tiwari. “Even if one goes by 2002 survey figures
there are more than 6.6.million BPL families covered under PDS. By
claiming three million of these cards are bogus the state’s trying to
keep away 50% of such families out of reach of new subsidised food
schemes. A garibi-ko-nahin-hata-sakte-toh-garibonko-hatao policy seems
to be put into place,” laments Tiwari.
FIGURES THAT BITE::
- Over 60% of India’s wheat and 27% of its rice is pilfered from the system before reaching the ration card holder.
- Maharashtra has cancelled 5.3 million cards saying they are bogus.
- SC guidelines need updating of BPL lists annually.
- Maharashtra still goes by the 2002 BPL survey figures
- Less than 25% of the total population in the state has a ration card.
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