Rajasthan shames the poor with public signs

State government says it is painting ‘I am poor’ signs on residents’ homes to ensure they get subsidised food rations

NEW DELHI // Life is undoubtedly hard for the 150,000 residents of Rajasthan’s Dausa district, who receive heavily subsidised wheat and rice rations. Yet the government of the northern Indian state shamed them by painting “I am poor” on the outer walls of their homes in bright red letters.

These residents, who are officially classed as below the poverty line, said they felt humiliated.

“I tried to stop the painter who came to do this but he said we wouldn’t get free grain unless we agreed to be identified as poor,” said Durga Meena, a labourer from Sikrai village in Dausa.

“Of course I feel ashamed. I know I am poor but at least I should be able to have my dignity.”

The signs, which gradually appeared on homes over the past few months, also include the words “I receive rations”, followed by the household’s identification number, on a yellow background.

After media reports on the signs sparked indignation across India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government defended the decision.

It claimed that the idea was first carried out by the previous Congress party government in Rajasthan.

“The practice of identifying BPL [ below the poverty line] families by writing ‘BPL’ outside their homes was started by the Congress government through an order dated August 6, 2009,” Rajendra Singh Rathore, Rajasthan’s minister for local government and rural development, said last week.

Yesterday, Mr Rathore said the BJP government had enacted the practice for a reason.

“Some families were getting food grain when they were not entitled to them, so the idea was to target those who are really poor to ensure that only they receive this benefit, not to shame them,” he said.

“I don’t like the way this has been turned into a political controversy but if people’s feelings have been hurt, we will remove the signs.” The opposition Congress party, has decried the signs as “a sick joke”. “The state government provides them with rations under the national food security act. It’s their legal right and not a charity from the government,” the Congress party said.

Under the act, state governments are obliged to provide subsidised wheat and rice rations to the 67 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population deemed to be below the poverty line.

About 70 per cent of the residents in Dausa are eligible for subsidised grains.

“What this [the decision for the signs] shows is a complete disconnect from the people and disregard for their sentiments. The poor don’t need their noses rubbed in the dirt about their status. This idea of branding homes is undemocratic and insulting,” said an editorial in the Hindustan Times on Sunday.

Pushpa Devi, also from the Dausa village of Sikrai, said she hated the signs but had to accept them.

“I get 15 kilograms of wheat to help me feed my family,” she said. “If the government wants to brand us in this way I don’t like it, but my priority is to feed my family.”