What are the problems of the functioning of ration shops

The food procured by FCI is supplied to the poor through the ration shops which have been set-up in most of the localities, villages, towns and cities. This is a part of the Public Distribution System (PDS) which is the most important step taken by the government towards ensuring food security in the country. But recently, many problems have crept up in the functioning of the ration shops. These are (i) The quality of the rationed articles issued to the poor is much less than what it should be. As a result, the poor have to depend on the market for their needs. (ii) Some of the ration shop dealers resort to malpractices. They illegally divert the grains to the open market for better gains. (iii) Some of the ration shop dealers sell only poor quality of grains. (iv) Some dealers do not open their shops regularly and the poor people cannot draw their ration quota timely. (v) Still others weigh less and cheat the illiterate poor. (vi) Some ration shops are unable to sell their poor quality grains, which become a great headache for FCI. (vii) With the introduction of colour coded cards and three different, prices for the same articles to different categories of people, the whole system of PDS has become more complicated. (viit) The APL card holders get very little discount at the ration shops because of which they have lost their interest to buy these articles from the ration shops.

Answer: The public distribution system (PDS) is the most important step taken by the Indian government towards ensuring food security. However, there have been several problems related to the functioning of ration shops. The food grains supplied by the ration shops are not enough to meet the consumption needs of the poor. As a result, they have to depend on markets instead. The average all-India level of consumption of PDS grains is only 1 kg per person per month. Most public-distribution-system dealers resort to malpractices like diverting food grains to open market to make profits, selling poor quality grains at ration shops, irregular opening of the shops, etc. Such actions make safe and nutritious food inaccessible and unaffordable for many of the poor. Under the targeted public distribution system, there are three kinds of ration cards: Antyodaya cards (for the poorest of the poor), BPL cards (for those below poverty line) and APL cards (for all others). Prices of the food materials are fixed accordingly. Under this system, any family above the poverty line gets very little discount at the ration shop. The price of food items for an APL family is almost as high as in the open market, so there is little incentive for them to buy the items from the ration shop.

Written By Jyothi Krishnan and Mouleshri Vyas The pandemic has highlighted the significance of social welfare services and schemes for economically and socially marginalised populations. Across urban and rural areas, those in the informal economy facing loss of livelihoods and incomes, turned to state-run programmes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), and the public distribution system (PDS), to tide over the acute crisis they were suddenly confronted with. However, addressing gaps in service delivery and implementation of welfare programmes is crucial to enhance their effectiveness, and ensure that the rights guaranteed to citizens through these measures are secured. In this context, insights from a pilot social audit conducted prior to the pandemic by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in collaboration with the Kerala Social Audit Society for the Department of Civil Supplies shows the way forward. The National Food Security Act (NFSA) enacted in 2013 establishes the right to food as a legal entitlement. Given the problems with the PDS such as poor quality of foodgrains, pilferage by shop owners, non-disbursal of entitlements to cardholders, and other issues, realising this right demands a sharp shift in our understanding of the functioning of the age-old ration shops, the point of interface between the state and the citizen with regard to foodgrain distribution. This was established through the pilot social audit of the NFSA i...

There are various problems with the functioning of ration shopssuch as; • Ration cards areissued only to those people who have their proper residentialaddresses.Hence a large number of homeless poor fail to get ration fromthese shops. • The owners of these shops sell ration inthe open market at higher prices. • Sometimes shopkeepers make bogus entriesin the ration cards.