Those without ration card find it hard to access Centre's free grain scheme

Though almost 83 per cent of ration card holders have received free grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGAY) during the three months of lockdown, just one in four non-ration card holders in rural India got any kind of food support from the government, a recent survey showed.

The survey, conducted between May 30 and July 16, also found widespread intra-state disparity in distribution of free rations, with some states faring much better than others.

The"nationwide" survey of rural India was done by media platform Gaon Connection, along with the Lokniti-CSDS.

A total of 25,371 respondents were interviewed between May 30 and July 16, all of whom were breadwinners and primarily men, the Gaon Connection said.

The survey was designed and data analysed by the Lokniti-CSDS team at the New Delhi-based Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).

It was conducted via face-to-face interviews following social distancing in 179 districts across 23 states and union territories by Gaon Connection Insights, the data and insights arm of the media platform.

The nationwide lockdown was first imposed by the Centre on March 25 for 21 days to check the spread of coronavirus and was subsequently extended.

Distribution of free food to non-ration card holders

Distribution of free food as announced by the PMGAY to those without a ration card but in extreme need (sometimes even more than those possessing ration cards) has been a problem area that that needs to relooked as the government has expanded the free food distribution scheme for ration card holders till this November. 

State governments across the country had, till June-end, distributed just 17 per cent of the allocated food grains meant for non-ration card holders as part of the Atmanirbhar package covering around 21.3 million of an estimated 80 million beneficiaries.

A big reason many people got left out from the ration system is a non-updation of beneficiary list under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) since 2011.

The Act, which governs the distribution of cheap food grains in the country, guarantees a minimum five kilograms of food grains per person per month at a highly subsidized rate of Rs 5 a kg for rice and Rs 3 per kg for wheat to almost 800 million people. The scheme was expanded to include an dditional five kg of wheat or rice for free.

That apart, the Centre also decided to distribute one kg of free pulses to each of the almost 195 million families per month starting from April.

This 800 million population is based on a cut-off of 67 per cent as per 2011 census.

However, critics say that as the NFSA was based on the 2011 census, the existing  coverage is much lower than the mandated 67 per cent, as the population has grown manifold between 2011 and 2020.

A recently released study by eminent economists Jean Drèze, Reetika Khera, and Meghana Mungikar shows that more than 100 million people are excluded from the public distribution system (PDS) because the Central government insists on using the 2011 figures to calculate state-wise PDS coverage.

At the all-India level, if the 67 per cent ratio were to be applied to a projected population of 1.37 billion , PDS coverage today would be 922 million, instead of around 800 million.

This means over 100 million eligible people are outside its ambit, the study showed.

The government, meanwhile, argues that it is helpless as the next census is due in 2021 after a gap of 10 years.

It though allows states to add more beneficiaries but additional expenses have to be borne by the states themselves and Centre will only bear the expenditure as mandated by the NFSA, which is 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population in each state, based on the 2011 census.

If a state adds more people than what the Central scheme allows, it will have to bear the additional expenditure. Therefore, states refrain from doing so.

"The government must immediately universalise the PDS and also provide nutritious items such as pulses and oil in every state. Community kitchens must operate in urban areas at all times to provide migrant workers and others with hot and nutritious meals at affordable prices," the Right to Food Campaign said.

It said the Centre's much talked about one-nation-one-ration card scheme, which is being touted as a solution to address the woes of migrants, also suffers from the safe bottleneck of being restricted to only those who have their names mentioned in ration cards. 

To address the problem of non-ration card holders not getting access to cheap food, the Central government decided to allocate extra grains for 80 million people in May. Most of the beneficiaries were migrants returning to their villages and homes due to Covid lockdown.

This was done at the rate of 5 kg per person per month for May and June.

Since less than 20 per cent of the grains was distributed to non-ration card holders, the Centre extended the distribution till end August.

How states fared in the first phase of free grains and pulses distribution

Though several observers said Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the free distribution scheme for another five months starting July with the upcoming Bihar elections in mind, when it comes to distribution of grains, the state has been a laggard in the first phase that ran from April to June.

West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar all performed unsatisfactorily in implementing the scheme, under which 5 kg of grains and one kg of pulses were distributed free of cost to ration cardholders in April, May and June.

Data available till June 30 shows that Bihar distributed around 72 per cent of the grain it lifted in the three months — 91 per cent of the April quota, 88 per cent of May, and just 37 per cent of the June quota.

In the case of pulses, Bihar has distributed 82 per cent of the April quota, and 31 per cent of May, while it hasn’t distributed anything from the June quota.

Data shows Bihar is entitled to distribute 50,655 tonnes of pulses in the three months at 16,885 tonnes a month.

The PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana scheme was aimed at helping poor families cope with the lockdown. In July, Modi extended this for another five months.

In Madhya Pradesh, data till June 30 showed around 68 per cent of the three months’ allocation has been distributed.

This includes 74 per cent of April quota, 83 per cent of May, and just 48 per cent of June quota.

In the case of free pulses, MP has distributed 64 per cent of the April quota, 48 per cent of May, and very little of the June quota.

The state is entitled to distribute 35,000 tonnes of pulses at 11,686 tonnes per month and has received a little over 16,000 tonnes of pulses and distributed 15,475 tonnes so far.

In the case of West Bengal, the state has distributed 59 per cent of its quota of grains till June 30.

Of its quota of pulses, the state has distributed just 87 per cent of the April quota and nothing since. It has received almost 28,000 tonnes of free pulses out of its quota of 44,000 tonnes.

Free grains for migrants to non-ration card holders

Rajasthan fared the best in distribution of free food grains to returning migrants as part of the Atmanirbhar package announced in May. It was among the six states with the maximum number of returnees.

The remaining five, which include large states like UP and Bihar, distributed less than 5 per cent of their quota for May and June, even as they had lifted almost the entire allocated quantities from the Central pool for both the months.

Across the country, state governments had till June-end distributed 17 per cent of the allocated quota, covering around 21.3 million of the estimated 80 million beneficiaries. 

Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Odisha are the other states that saw the maximum number of returning migrants.

Under the Atmanirbhar package, the central government provided 5 kg of grains to an estimated 80 million migrants along with one kg free chana (whole gram) in May and June. This was to be provided to those without ration cards or those not on any list of food programmes.

The performance mentioned above was till June end after which the scheme was extended till August to give time to states to distribute more grains to those who don't have a ration card.

Till June end, data shows Rajasthan lifted its entire quota of 44,662 tonnes of grain for the two months, and distributed 95 per cent of it. 

In contrast, Bihar — which was allocated 86,450 tonnes — distributed just 4.3 per cent of May’s quota and nothing from June’s allocated quantity. The data is till July 1. Bihar lifted 100 per cent of the quota.

UP lifted almost the entire allocated quantity of 142,033 tonnes of grain from FCI warehouses but gave out 3.1 per cent of May’s quota and 1.6 per cent of June’s to returnees.

Madhya Pradesh and Odisha did not lift even 5 per cent of their allocated quantity.

Jharkhand, on the other hand, lifted 100 per cent of its allocated quota, but distributed just 0.3 per cent of it in both the months.

Of the 800,000 tonnes allocated by the Centre for the entire country, states lifted 80 percent of it but distributed just 15.2 per cent of May’s quota and 11.6 per cent of June’s.

West Bengal, which lags in free distribution of grain to ration card holders, did better than the top six in giving it to returning migrants.

Garib Kalyan phase from July to November

The second phase of PMGAY started in July and in it just like the first phase the government is giving 5 kg of extra wheat or rice in addition to the eligible quota to ration card holders, along with one kg of chana.

Till July end, the Central government had allocated 20.1 million tonnes of wheat and rice (for 5 months at rate of 4 million tonnes each month), of which 4.98 million tonnes has been lifted by the states and 2.56 million tonnes distributed by them.

In the case of whole gram, around 970,000 tonnes are required for distribution in the next five months, of which 210,000 tonnes have been dispatched to states and 150,000 tonnes have been received by them. Around 12,000 tonnes have been distributed by the states to the identified beneficiaries. 

The government has 2.9 million tonnes of chana stocks in its warehouses. Free grains and pulses distribution for both July and August is currently on in several states.