The Drought Of Ideas

Drought is an annual feature even when monsoons are good. If the monsoons fail, the food distribution system creaks under the combined onslaught of flawed identification of legitimate consumers, skewed central and state government food-for-work programmes and desperately short storage space.

Of the 65 million tonnes of foodgrains it has, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) can keep only half of it in "proper" storage. The rest lie in the open, covered by tarpaulins or are moved into makeshift godowns, most of which may not be equipped to handle the stocks.

The network of storage and distribution has to work effectively in a drought. But does it? In the past, the distribution system has failed, like in Orissa two years ago.

Even if grains reach the drought-hit areas, the people should have the money to buy them from the PDS outlets. "The only realistic antidote to drought, even more important than storage and transportation, is to increase the purchasing power of the people. Unfortunately, that has not happened," says Vivek Srinivasan of Action-Aid India. This, despite several plans. The key question: how do you ensure the effective implementation of these schemes?

On paper, there are seven major central food security schemes—the mid-day meal scheme, Antyodaya, Annapurna, national old-age pension scheme, the Integrated Child Development Scheme, family benefit scheme and the national social assistance programme. The schemes are supposed to cover all segments of the underprivileged—in practice, they do not.

Compounding the confusion is the multiplicity of players. Different ministries frame schemes with a food component. The ministry of rural development controls and funds some these programmes, as does the social welfare department and other ministries. Last week, a special panel headed by economist Abhijeet Sen suggested that the government revert to universal PDS, a pre-1997 formula where food is made available through the PDS for all.

Economist Jean Dreze who went to the Manatu block in Jharkhand's Palamau district had a good look at the system: "Stark irregularities in the functioning of the PDS and food-related programmes came to light. Many people complained that despite their evident and appalling poverty, they did not have a BPL (below poverty line) card. Those who did mistook it for a kerosene card," says Dreze. In his words, many cards were entirely blank, others had false entries, even though the cardholder had received nothing for months. Some others said they were too poor to buy rations even at subsidised prices.

The scenario at Manatu is not unique. The situation is more or less similar in other states, particularly in the interiors. And despite some of these districts, like Palamau, being declared drought-hit since as long back as 2001, things have remained much the same.