When the toll of children dying of alleged malnutrition touched an incredible 1,400 this year in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra, the state government ascribed the deaths to a number of reasons—except starvation. The ministry of food decided to conduct its own investigation.
Its findings were horrific: the bulk of foodgrains were being diverted and never reached the abjectly poor, illiterate tribals for whom it was intended. The tribals were denied sugar and kerosene and given only half their quota of foodgrains. What's more, the ration shop proprietors had confiscated their ration cards! The district administration was aware of the "food racket".
Food minister Shanta Kumar wrote to chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh about the findings, but has yet to receive a response. The Nandurbar experience bears out a report on the pds by Tata Consultancy, which found that 35 per cent of foodgrains released by the Centre were diverted.
It also prompted suggestions to the states on safeguards against diversion of pds foodgrains. One is the involvement of village panchayats in monitoring the distribution of food by ration shops. Another is that ration shops dispense foodgrains weekly instead of monthly since bpl consumers may not be able to buy their entire quota at one go.
The food ministry has also said that it will insist on verifying the actual utilisation of foodgrains by the state governments. "We will not subsidise theft," says Kumar.