Delhi Govt. May Cancel 4 Lakh ‘Inactive’ Ration Cards

The Food and Civil Supplies Department of the Delhi Government plans to cancel more than four lakh ration cards in the State in April citing 'suspicious circumstances', which range from duplication to improper issuance of the card. However, critics have pointed out that the move may end up excluding a large number of beneficiaries and have blamed flaws with the online delivery of ration (e-POS) system, which was launched two months ago.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government led by Arvind Kejriwal warned the beneficiaries that their cards could be cancelled if they did not collect the subsidised food grains allocated to them for another month and failed to respond to the notices which will be issued to them. A senior officer of the department was quoted as saying, on condition of anonymity, said that they would initiate the process of card cancellation in April. “There are around 1.5 lakh applicants who are in the queue whom we will be able to accommodate,” he said 

He added that according to norms, cards can be cancelled if ration is not collected for three months. These beneficiaries would be issued a notice to which they would have to reply in 10 days.  

Data from the food and civil supplies department shows that at least four lakh ration card holders have not collected their ration for January and February. Out of total 19.41 lakh ration card holders, only around 15.15 lakh card holders collected their ration in January. In February, the total number of cardholders increased to 19.45 lakh but only 15.29 lakh received the subsidized food grains.

However, the question of collection of ration is far more complicated. “We cannot say all these are bogus cards. The government placed machines to identify the ration card holders. But, due to the malfunctioning and technical issues in the machines, these people were excluded from this identification process,” said PMS Grewal, social activist and former Delhi secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist). 

Grewal said, “People go to the ration outlets and stand in queues to collect their ration. But, at times, the internet connectivity may be poor or the machines fail to recognise the fingerprint of the cardholder. It mainly happens with daily wagers since their fingerprints get blurred due to harsh work. These people come to ration outlets sacrificing a day's work and wage. So, simply, the neediest classes are being expelled from this list of cardholders.”

Will the people who were rejected by the machines come back again sacrificing their wages? Once they are denied, their names get registered as among those who are not interested in rations, he said.

Under the National Food Security Act, about 76 lakh people out of 1.9 crore people  in Delhi are entitled to subsidised food grains. Grewal pointed out this itself is unjust. Pointing to the flaws in the existing Public Distribution System (PDS, Grewal said, “Earlier itself, the government cut down the number of ration cards. Now, in the name fake cards, the government plans to reduce the number of cards, so that their liability to provide ration comes down. The AAP government, unfortunately, is not willing to spend a single paisa for increasing the net benefits. If you go consider Kerala, there are 14 items which you get from ration shops.  In Tamil Nadu also, the government provides much for people. While the Delhi government distributes whatever they get from the Centre, they plan to reduce the number of overall beneficiaries,” said Grewal.

Gradually, the AAP government is moving towards the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme which it has implemented as a pilot project. DBT allows transferring subsidies directly to the people through their bank accounts, he said. “The ultimate aim of migrating to DTB is to get rid of the ration system,” he added.

At the same time, AAP government plans to ensure delivery of rations under the PDS. Commenting on this, he wondered that if a person went for work, who would collect the ration.

“Months later, the government may say that these persons were not there to collect the ration when we approached them and it will end up excluding those names from the list too,” added Grewal. This again will end up cutting the number of beneficiaries, he added.