The Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) was meant to help the government restart the distribution of subsidised grain from a fresh slate.
With the census - a replacement of the below poverty line (BPL) - stuck in limbo, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) is set to take off in most states on the basis of the leakage-riddled old BPL lists, with a top-up of some additional beneficiaries on it.
The SECC began in 2011 and about Rs 2,600 crore has been spent on it so far. But the census, which was to be the basis for identifying beneficiaries for the NFSA and other targeted schemes, is far from complete.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has allocated Rs 515 crore for the survey in the current financial year but money may be the least of the problems in identifying the poor.
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Official data shows till date the draft lists of beneficiaries have been prepared in less than half the country, in 307 of the 640 districts.
The draft lists are only an intermediary stage towards finalisation of the SECC. It is followed by a verification process at the village level before the lists are finalised and wrong beneficiaries weeded.
"A state-wide verification can take up to a year, even longer in bigger states," a source in the rural development ministry said. In most states, the process is far from over.
Once the lists have been finalised the states are expected to use criteria built on the parameters recorded in the survey to identify beneficiaries. These would ideally result in a fresh set of 'NFSA' cards being given.
But, according to data available with the central government, among the big states Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh have not yet sent their revised lists of beneficiaries to the Centre, though three states, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu - have been distributing foodgrains according to the Food Act.
Not waiting to use the SECC as a fresh basis for identifying beneficiaries, several states have reverted back to decade-old lists with all the attendant errors of exclusion and inclusion - people who were wrongfully kept out of the list, or the undeserving who were added on, or simply absolutely bogus cards.
To fill up the additional numbers of beneficiaries the expanded public distribution system under the NFSA provides subsidy for, states have resorted to their own set of criteria.
The origin of the problem lies with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government trying to pass the law in haste before the end of its second tenure. It permitted each state to devise its own way of identifying the beneficiaries.
The original plan was to use the SECC as base data and identify beneficiaries based on the broad principle of excluding the rich - tax payers, car owners, those holding lands beyond a certain size - and including some categories by default. Then, ranking the rest based on some parameters . "Initially, the logic was that the Centre would not impose an artificial cap based on any statistical exercise, such as the poverty line and NSSO figures, but let the survey decide the number of beneficiaries," said an official involved in formulation of the law during the UPA's tenure.
But with worries plaguing the government about the ballooning subsidy cost, it first introduced a cap in the law - 75 per cent in rural India and 50 per cent in urban India.
Then to get the Opposition on board to pass the law, it decided each state would be permitted to identify the beneficiaries as it found fit. Chaos has ensued.
Take the case of Rajasthan, which went for state polls in November 2013. In October 2013, it used the decade-old BPL list of 2004 and added more categories on top of it, such as domestic help, bonded and construction labour and beneficiary of other pro-poor schemes. Jharkhand did the same later. Madhya Pradesh and Odisha followed. The continued existence of bogus cards means fewer additional beneficiaries can be added within the cap that the Centre puts on subsidy support. If the states have to add more numbers they do so from their own pocket.
This happened in Chhattisgarh, which is now staring at a total annual food subsidy bill of almost Rs 4,000 crore and looking desperately to weed out almost one million beneficiaries - a politically difficult task for any state government.
