 "Enforce NFSA or pay price for foodgrain, Centre warns Kerala, Tamil Nadu")
The Centre on Friday warned Kerala and Tamil Nadu that foodgrain for distribution to above poverty line (APL) families will be provided at higher rates to states, if they fail to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, at the earliest. The warning was issued by Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, after a national conference on public distribution system (PDS) reforms.
“Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the only two states left where the NFSA has not been implemented as yet. Despite being developed states, I fail to understand their reasons for not doing so,” said Paswan.
Till date, around 65 per cent of the over 240 million ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar, with 100 per cent coverage in six states. Though 100 per cent ration cards have been digitised, their seeding with Aadhaar — crucial to reforming the PDS and eliminating bogus beneficiaries — is progressing at a snail’s pace.
Urging states to address the gaps in achieving full computerisation of PDS, Paswan said 243 million ration cards have been digitised in the country, of which only 65 per cent are seeded with Aadhaar numbers.
No initiative has been taken on Aadhaar seeding in Bihar, Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, he observed.
Other 34 NFSA-implementing states and Union Territories have been asked to address the lacunae in the list of beneficiaries, computerisation of PDS operations, Aadhaar linkage with ration cards and grievance redressal mechanism.
The NFSA, passed by Parliament in September 2013 during the United Progressive Alliance regime, aims to abolish APL and below poverty line (BPL) criteria, and uniformly provides five kgs of wheat or rice to all beneficiaries every month, at subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.
The Kerala government had earlier said it would implement the NFSA from November, but now the state intends to do so from December.
“Kerala says it does not have the necessary wherewithal. I cannot fathom how a developed state like Kerala does not have the requisite infrastructure,” said Paswan.
Asking states to speed up reforms in PDS to plug foodgrain leaks, Paswan said there could be hurdles in putting up necessary infrastructure for effective roll-out of the NFSA, but those wrinkles need to be ironed out by both the Centre and states.
In case of online foodgrain allocation, the minister said even though 28 states/UTs are on track, there are still impediments like no clear bifurcation of the NFSA and state-specific schemes.
In automation of supply-chain management, Paswan said 15 states/UTs are yet to implement the same, but 18 states/UTs that are executing it have not done so effectively.
SMS registration facility is not available for getting alerts for events like stock released from state silos, stock delivery at fair price shops (FPSs), etc. Monthly summary report, too, is not available for SMSs sent to beneficiaries, Paswan added.
On automation of FPSs, the minister said only 142,000 shops have installed electronic point-of-sale machines, of the 528,000 in 20 states/UTs.
Around 13 states/UTs such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab and West Bengal have not made much progress in the past one year, he said.
The minister also asked states to ensure the redressal mechanism is put in place to address the NFSA-related grievances.
The government provides Rs 1.30 lakh crore food subsidy. At present, 710 million beneficiaries are covered under the NFSA, against the target of 850 million, he added.
“Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the only two states left where the NFSA has not been implemented as yet. Despite being developed states, I fail to understand their reasons for not doing so,” said Paswan.
Till date, around 65 per cent of the over 240 million ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar, with 100 per cent coverage in six states. Though 100 per cent ration cards have been digitised, their seeding with Aadhaar — crucial to reforming the PDS and eliminating bogus beneficiaries — is progressing at a snail’s pace.
Urging states to address the gaps in achieving full computerisation of PDS, Paswan said 243 million ration cards have been digitised in the country, of which only 65 per cent are seeded with Aadhaar numbers.
No initiative has been taken on Aadhaar seeding in Bihar, Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, he observed.
Other 34 NFSA-implementing states and Union Territories have been asked to address the lacunae in the list of beneficiaries, computerisation of PDS operations, Aadhaar linkage with ration cards and grievance redressal mechanism.
The NFSA, passed by Parliament in September 2013 during the United Progressive Alliance regime, aims to abolish APL and below poverty line (BPL) criteria, and uniformly provides five kgs of wheat or rice to all beneficiaries every month, at subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg.
The Kerala government had earlier said it would implement the NFSA from November, but now the state intends to do so from December.
“Kerala says it does not have the necessary wherewithal. I cannot fathom how a developed state like Kerala does not have the requisite infrastructure,” said Paswan.
Asking states to speed up reforms in PDS to plug foodgrain leaks, Paswan said there could be hurdles in putting up necessary infrastructure for effective roll-out of the NFSA, but those wrinkles need to be ironed out by both the Centre and states.
In case of online foodgrain allocation, the minister said even though 28 states/UTs are on track, there are still impediments like no clear bifurcation of the NFSA and state-specific schemes.
In automation of supply-chain management, Paswan said 15 states/UTs are yet to implement the same, but 18 states/UTs that are executing it have not done so effectively.
SMS registration facility is not available for getting alerts for events like stock released from state silos, stock delivery at fair price shops (FPSs), etc. Monthly summary report, too, is not available for SMSs sent to beneficiaries, Paswan added.
On automation of FPSs, the minister said only 142,000 shops have installed electronic point-of-sale machines, of the 528,000 in 20 states/UTs.
Around 13 states/UTs such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab and West Bengal have not made much progress in the past one year, he said.
The minister also asked states to ensure the redressal mechanism is put in place to address the NFSA-related grievances.
The government provides Rs 1.30 lakh crore food subsidy. At present, 710 million beneficiaries are covered under the NFSA, against the target of 850 million, he added.
GRAIN OF TRUTH
- 100% beneficiary ration cards under food subsidy programme have been digitised so far, but only 65% have been seeded with the Aadhaar card due to slow performance by some states
- According to the NFSA, the Centre provides subsidised grains to about 67% of households at a rate of between Re 1 and Rs 3 per kilo