States warned over PDS leakages

The Centre has warned states of a review of allocations if they fail to check diversion of grain under the public distribution system (PDS).

The government has also asked them to review the list of below poverty line (BPL) and Antyodaya Anna Yojna beneficiaries to eliminate bogus ration cards.

The food ministry, in a communication to states last week, also asked them to computerise PDS operations to ensure transparency in records. The funds should be transferred electronically to the Food Corporation of India (FCI), it said.

States where intermediaries stock and transport grain for the PDS have been asked to minimise the number of such middlemen and streamline their working.

The communication suggested a five-point plan for revamping the PDS to eliminate diversion. For doorstep supply of grain to ration shops, states have been suggested to emulate Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Chhattisgarh has introduced a global positioning system (GPS) on trucks transporting grain to the FPS to keep track of their movement.

States have also been urged to post information relating to allocation and distribution of grain on the website to make the system transparent. The FCI would also put such information on its website.

Details on BPL and Antyodaya beneficiaries should be made available to the FPS as well as the websites of the ration offices and the district administration, the ministry has suggested. It has also called for the verification of the lists to spot bogus ration cards.

A recent survey by the ORG-Marg had indicated that around 37 per cent of PDS grain was being diverted. The leakages were the highest in the north-eastern states "" almost 100 per cent in case of wheat and between 37.2 per cent and 97.7 per cent in the case of rice.

The proportion of diverted wheat varied from 13.5 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir to 86.6 per cent in West Bengal and for rice from 33.4 per cent in Chhattisgarh to 64.3 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir.

The food ministry has discussed the issue with the state food ministers a number of times. In the last such meeting in Delhi in September, states were urged to send action taken reports. Only a few states have done so, according to food ministry sources.