[Reader-list] Half of Vibrant Gujarat goes to sleep empty stomach ( Despite having a range of smart identification documents)

[Taha Mehmood]

On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 1:02 PM, Britta Ohm <ohm at zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:

> Would love to read this...
> Britta
>
>

Dear Britta,

I do not know how that happened. There must be a software error some where.
Nevertheless I have copied and pasted the entire post below. Please have a
look.

Regards

Taha

Dear all,

The story below indicates that how even having a range of smart
identification cards are no security for almost half of Gujarat's
population.

Gujarat- which is perhaps the most industrialized state of India and
is run by Narender bhai Modi, a man who has carefully built a public
persona of being hard on terror. As the story suggests in reality he
could not provide for basic necessities like food for his people.

Please read the excerpt below-

On paper, much hyped schemes like the Anand Smart Card Project,
Roaming Ration Card, Food Fortification, Grahak Bhandar Yojana, Food
Helpline and others may appear to be in place. Despite this, almost
half of Gujarat's six crore population is hungry.

The story below counters the assertion that links smart identification
card with just distribution of food and employment opportunities.

I think that before we go for an option for National Identity Card we
in India need to have a public debate on the validity of the claims
put forth by the industry.

Does a huge transfer of money in the name of smart cards to the
corporates coffers justified? Can that money be put to use in some
other way? Who benefits the most by such a transfer?

Warm regards

Taha



http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/half-of-vibrant-gujarat-goes-to-sleep-empty-stomach/401073/


Half of Vibrant Gujarat goes to sleep empty stomach

Gaurav Sharma
Posted: Dec 21, 2008 at 0355 hrs IST

Ahmedabad Despite tall claims on paper, cases of malnutrition,
anaemia, low body mass index abound in state

"It is with the core value of the Right to Food that the Gujarat
government's Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department sets
its mandate," this is the government's claim. But, according to
various reports, the state's Public Distribution System (PDS) is in a
shambles.

On paper, much hyped schemes like the Anand Smart Card Project,
Roaming Ration Card, Food Fortification, Grahak Bhandar Yojana, Food
Helpline and others may appear to be in place. Despite this, almost
half of Gujarat's six crore population is hungry.

For its part, the state government has issued nearly 89.58 lakh Above
Poverty Line (APL) cards and 35.51 lakh Below Poverty Line (BPL)
cards. In the latter category, about 8.10 lakh cards fall under the
Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY), which caters to the poorest of the poor.
So, in all, nearly 1.33 crore ration cards have been issued in the
state to ensure the availability of wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene to
the poorer sections of society at highly subsidised rates.

This means that ideally, the system should work like this— the Food
Corporation of India (FCI) issues the PDS quota to Gujarat at a
subsidised rate, which in turn further subsidises it for BPL and AAY
cardholders. APL citizens get no subsidy and have to pay the market
price of their share of PDS. The food goes from the national
warehouses to the state warehouses where it is checked, fortified and
then distributed to Fair Price Shops (FPS). Ration cardholders then
pick up their quota from there.

But, as the state government itself has admitted, the PDS in Gujarat
have come to be known for hoarding, profiteering, poor quality,
adulteration, overpricing and under weighing. The FCI allots less than
the required PDS quota to Gujarat and the government doesn't even
bother about it. It keeps itself busy converting more and more BPL
cards to APL, apparently to showcase its efforts at improving the
hunger situation in the state, at least on paper.

Also, bogus cards are made at will and the PDS quota is diverted to
the open market using these. This happens at both the levels of the
Civil Supplies Department and the Fair Price Shops. With absolutely no
checks on the FPS, these functions as autonomous bodies and are the
major source of resource diversions. Such is the situation now that
numerous public hearings, suo motto cognizance by the Gujarat High
Court and various RTI applications have failed to bring about any
change.

Gujarat's Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Narattam Patel could
not be contacted for comments.

Alarmingly hungry
* According to International Food Policy Research Institute's 2008
Global Hunger Index, Gujarat is ranked 69th along with Haiti, the
nation infamous for food riots. The state is placed in the 'alarming'
category.
* The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation has identified urban Gujarat
as 'moderately food secure' while rural Gujarat remains 'severely
insecure.'
* The National Family Health Survey III (NFHS-III) conveys that 42.4
per cent of children in Gujarat are suffering from stunted growth due
to malnutrition. Also, about 47.4 per cent of children are underweight
in the state.
* NFHS-III also points out that more than half of Gujarat's population
is Anaemic, with a percentage as high as 80.1 for children aged 6-35
months.
* NFHS-III further states that nearly one-third of adults in Gujarat
have their Body Mass Index (BMI) below the normal, 32.3 per cent for
women and 28.2 per cent for men.

System in a shambles but the government is in denial
SC overruled
* The Supreme Court had ordered on November 28, 2001 and January 10,
2008 to provide 35 kg food grains — 19 kg wheat flour and 16 kg rice —
to the poorest of the poor under the Antyodaya Scheme. But the Gujarat
government in its resolution dated March 24, 2008 decided to provide
16 kg rice and 16.7 kg wheat fortified flour
* The government deducts 2.3 kg from the entitlement of 19 kg and
passes it on to the flour mills as the cost of fortification. So,
flour mills get the benefit of 24,647 tons of wheat annually at the
cost of poorest of the poor
Poor distribution system
Public hearings in 2008 against injustices abounding in the PDS
* 900 people attend a hearing organised by the Lok Adhikar Manch
(supported by Action Aid) on April 30 at Anjar, Kutch.
* 1,300 people attend a hearing organised by Lok Adhikar Manch on July
2 at Khavda in Kutch
* 1,150 people attend a hearing organised by Sarthi (supported by
Action Aid) on November 21 at Panchmahals
Common grievances recorded
* Large scale diversion of PDS food grains
* Irregular identification and distribution of ration cards
* False and fake entries on ration cards
* Fair Price Shops (FPS) open for less than two weeks in a month
against the stipulated 24 days
Sorry state of affairs
* The National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New
Delhi, finds in a survey that nearly 11, 53,000 ghost/fake BPL cards
have been issued in Gujarat
* An ORG-Marg report commissioned by the Centre reveals that in
Gujarat, about 41 per cent of rice slotted for the poor is being
diverted
* According to the state government, the Centre allots food grains
only for 21.20 lakh families as against the 35.51 lakh BPL families, a
gap for nearly 14.31 lakh families. Still, the Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution confirms in reply to an RTI
application that 'No representation is received from any MP, MLA, CM
or Minister regarding the supply of food grains to Gujarat since the
last one year.'
* An analysis report dated December 26, 2007 of the Public Health
Laboratory, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, confirms live insects,
high quantity of chaff in 18 samples of fortified wheat flour supplied
by FPS at various districts in Rajkot, Panchmahals, Dahod, Dwarka and
Jamnagar. It is deemed unfit for human consumption.
* The FCI admits in a reply to an application filed under the Right to
Information Act that nearly 73,814 tons of food grains have been
damaged in Gujarat and Maharashtra over the past decade
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