'Decentralisation of PDS can make it work'

Q&A/ HARSH MANDER

Harsh Mander, special commissioner appointed by the Supreme Court in the Right to Food Public interest litigation filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties against the government of India, makes a case for the Public Distribution System.

A National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey has shown that only half of the rural poor have ration cards. What does it say about the relevance and reach of PDS? Should it be wound up?

When Anganwadis don't work properly we cannot say Integrated Child Development Services programme itself is irrelevant. Simply because something is not working properly does not rule out its need.

The basic notion is that people should have access to affordable food. A little political will is needed. We need to grapple with ways to make it work rather than thinking of questioning its relevance.

What has not happened in the last 60 years cannot happen now?

I would still say that we should either have universal PDS or in the case of targeted PDS (BPL alone), then we have to constantly monitor as to how many of the deserving cases are covered.

Why has it not worked so far?

One of the reasons is that people most in need of food security find that their entitlement to food is in conflict with their citizenship rights.

Ration card has been a sort of identity card all along and slum dwellers, destitute, forest dwellers and others who most need food security have been denied ration cards because citizenship rights were also denied to them.

What about poor offtake of wheat supplied through PDS? Doesn't it show that even those with ration cards are not either getting it or requiring it?

It is again the failure of the government to deliver. It is a failure of the distribution system rather than a reason to wind up the PDS.

The government is now mulling food coupons. Do you think these alternatives are viable?

Food stamps are, in a sense, transferring the task to private sector. It is similar to health insurance through private companies. I am worried about that. There is no option but to make the government institution more accountable.

Do you think decentralisation of the PDS would weed out some of its problems?

Yes, definitely. Food grains should be locally procured and locally distributed by the community itself in rural areas. This can also be replicated in urban areas

Has any state done it?

Chhattisgarh has decentralised procurement. The state procures and panchayats and cooperatives are distributing the grains.

In fact, there they have covered 80 per cent of the population under the PDS or BPL category. They have completely done away with the private sector. So there is a solution.

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