J’khand unhappy with direct transfer of food subsidy plan
The BJP ruled Jharkhand government has decided to ask the Centre to withdraw its pilot project for direct transfer of food subsidy into account of beneficiaries in place of ration as it was causing immense trouble to the poor and was violating the National Food Security law, said state food minister Saryu Roy.
Ranchi’s Nagri block was selected for country’s first large scale pilot, covering over 52,000 beneficiaries of ration card holders, for transferring food subsidy amount into their bank accounts and then allowing them to buy ration from fair price shops at the market rates. Earlier, the government had launched small DBT pilot projects involving a few hundred poor in Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
State food minister Saryu Roy said, “We have got CM’s (Raghubar Das) approval. The state’s recommendation for cancelling the project will be forwarded to the Centre this week.” However, the final decision to withdraw the pilot will rest with the Centre, he added.
He admitted that the DBT of food subsidy was causing trouble to beneficiaries, as rules in the national food security act (NFSA) and DBT contradict each other.
An official in the food department, who did not wished to be quoted, explained: “Section-3 of NFSA clearly says beneficiaries should get ration every month as per their entitlements, while DBT rule says if ration is not bought, subsidy will not be paid. It means, if any beneficiary fails to buy ration within that month or exhausted the subsidy amount on other needs due to any reason, he will not be given the subsidy of/ from next month (until proper explanation). He will be deprived of monthly ration, which violates the NFSA rule.”
Citing an example of average ration lifting in Nagri under DBT scheme, he said 84% beneficiaries bought ration every month, while the average in the earlier model – of taking subsidised ration directly from the shop for Rs one per kg – was 98%. The official said the state had asked the Centre to allow re-introduction of the old model of ration distribution in Nagri until a composite rule combining the two Acts is framed.
Hindustan Times in its February 15 edition carried a report ‘Direct benefit transfer’ pilot project for food subsidies turns a burden in Jharkhand’, highlighting how beneficiaries in Nagri were facing problem to withdraw their monthly ration.
Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das launched the Centre’s direct transfer of food subsidy pilot in Ranchi’s Nagri block, 20km from the state capital, last October.
Beneficiaries, however, have been protesting the scheme since the beginning. A visit to the villages where the project is operational underlined the problems people face in getting the subsidy and then the ration. In most cases, people claim there is no SMS alert about the money being transferred, leading to multiple visits to the bank.
In some, the money is transferred into the account of a child within the household while the ration can be procured only through the finger impression of some other person in the family.
Economist Jean Dreze, spearheading the Right to Food campaign in Jharkhand, claimed to have conducted a survey in the villages of Nagri, which revealed 97% of ration card holders in Nagri were opposed to DBT.
RANCHI: