[Reader-list] Over 20 lakh bogus yellow ration cards in State (Karnataka)

[Taha Mehmood]

http://www.hindu.com/2005/01/02/stories/2005010201650400.htm

Online edition of India's National Newspaper

Karnataka

Sunday, Jan 02, 2005

Over 20 lakh bogus yellow ration cards in State

By Nagesh Prabhu


 BANGALORE, JAN. 1. If one goes by the statistics provided by the Food and
Civil Supplies Department of the State Government, the number of people
living in poverty in Karnataka is more than that in Bihar and Orissa.

As many as 70.58 per cent of the families in the State have obtained yellow
ration cards under the public distribution system (PDS), which means that
they are below the poverty line (BPL). The figure is in contrast with the
data provided by the National Sample Survey Organisation (1999-2000), which
indicated that 20.04 per cent of the population lives in poverty in the
State, while it is 47 per cent in Orissa and 42 per cent in Bihar. The
Centre has identified 31.29 lakh families as BPL families in the State
whereas the State agencies put the figure at 72.21 lakh families, as of
October 2004.

Bogus cards

According to an official in the department, several families have obtained
the yellow cards though they are above the poverty line, thus inflating the
percentage of BPL cardholders. In July 2004, the department confiscated
about one lakh bogus ration cards and still there are over 20 lakh bogus
cards in use at present, the official said.

As many as 7,19,700 families (7.03 per cent) are "poorest of the poor" and
obtained Anthyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration cards, while 65,01,701 families
(63.54 per cent) are living below poverty line (BPL) and have received
yellow ration cards, according to the official.

Except in Dakshina Kananda (37.56 per cent) and Udupi (43.76 per cent)
districts, the percentage of poor families is over 60 in other districts.
Interestingly, over 70 per cent of the families are poor in much better off
districts such as Bangalore Rural (90.31 per cent), Bangalore Urban (72.29),
Chikmagalur (80.13), Mysore (71.78), Mandya (83.01) and Davangere (82.48).
In fact, in 40 taluks, the percentage of poor families is between 90 and 100
per cent and more than 100 per cent in 13 taluks, going by the number of
yellow cards, the official said.

The Centre allots foodgrains only for 31.29 lakh families at subsidised
price. The State Government purchases the requirement for the other BPL
families from the Food Corporation of India at the normal issue price of the
Centre.

Many deprived of ration

Many fair price shop owners deprive their customers of the allotted ration
and sell the same in the open market. The dealers themselves are in
possession of several bogus cards. In villages, people do not have enough
clout to resist the fraud and many of them are not aware do not know their
entitlements. The new Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, H.S. Mahadeva
Prasad, has decided to order a fresh survey to detect bogus ration cards.

Some families have more than one card, and gram panchayats have not
identified the poor properly, says D. Rajashekar, Professor, Institute for
Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, who studied the distribution of
ration cards in the State. Many non-poor families have obtained yellow cards
on political consideration or through corrupt ways, he said.

Identification

Officials in the department say that the grama sabhas should identify the
eligible beneficiaries, and the gram panchayats should be empowered to
appoint and dismiss ration-shop owners. There are 20,650 ration shops in the
State. There is only one food inspector at the taluk level. One of the
reasons attributed to the large-scale diversion of grain to the open market
has been staff shortage.

Subsidy to go up

At present, the monthly quota of foodgrains for BPL families is 20 kg of
rice and five kg of wheat at Rs. 3 a kg. The expenditure on subsidised
foodgrains was Rs. 53.84 crores in 1991-92 and Rs. 262.43 crores in 2000-01.
The State budget for has set aside Rs. 300 crores for this. With the cut in
the price of foodgrains from Rs. 6.50 to Rs. 3, the officials estimate that
over Rs. 600 crores may be required to subsidise foodgrains during the
current year.