Rice for National Food Security Act

Colonel IS Chanam, Retd *

Chief Minister O Ibobi addressing the launch of the NFSA on April 25 2016 :: Pix - TSE

On 21 May 2016 Minister of CAF & PD asked all the Fair Price Shop agents to deposit money and collect rice for distribution to the public. On 26 May 2016 NFSA rice finds way to open markets, wrote The Sangai Express. Dr Nimaichand Luwang, ex-Minister shouted at the top of his voice on 7 June, from MPP office that, from Imphal East district, one MLA swindled 1433 quintals of rice amounting to Rs 34 lakh and another MLA swindled 1150 quintals of rice amounting to Rs 27 lakh approx.

Price of rice under National Food Security Act (NFSA) is Rs 3 per kg. On that day price in open market was Rs 25.60, now superfine rice costs Rs 28 while Manipuri rice costs Rs 32 per kg. Total quantity allotted to the state is 11,796 tonnes per month. Selling this rice in open market will yield a gain of Rs 25 per kg.

Sale in open market of the total allotted rice at Rs 28 per kg will yield Rs 1179600×28 = Rs3,30,28,800 per month. In one year it will amount to Rs 3,30,28,800×12 = Rs39,63,45,600 = This is a big money and a big attraction for all those involved in the chain of supply of rice. This attraction and desire to swindle will go on and on, all the years round, till a better system is put in place.

Manipur has a good record in the field of sports. But it has a shameful record in Public Distribution System. Leakage in rice distribution happens in all states. Leakage in Andhra Pradesh was 11.1 % and in Tamil Nadu it was 12.2 %.

For Manipur leakage was 97.8 %, and Manipur became the worst state in the whole of India, where only 2.2 % of rice reached the public, wrote The Hindu on 1 February 2015. Who has eaten up that 97.8% of rice in Manipur? What is the government doing about it? Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were considered the best states, with minimum leakage.

This enormous leakage of food grain in Manipur is shocking indeed. Appalled by this flagrant misappropriation and diversion of rice meant for the poor, the Supreme Court instituted Justice Wadha Committee to go into this issue. The Sangai Express, dated 14 May 2015 reported that the Committee blamed the undue power given to MLAs and MPs and their associates.

The political entities and corrupt government officials took the name of UG elements while siphoning and diverting food grains. The Committee recommended that the political entities and their interference should be kept away from implementation of Public Distribution System. It is time that the government takes action on the recommendation of the Committee, now!

The success story of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, materialised because the leaders in these governments are determined to ensure cleanliness in the system. Their desire to swindle is in check. They desire good performance and re-election. They have put an effective system to prevent diversion of food grains. Tamil Nadu model deserves copying.

The effectiveness in the scheme in Tamil Nadu relies heavily on elaborate groundwork. The mammoth task of minimising diversion and reaching 317,000 tonnes of rice to 1.97 crore card holders from 31,439 outlets in 32 districts, involves technological interventions, drawing up innovative fool-proof delivery mechanisms, old-fashioned policing, surprise checks and constant reviews, and fixing responsibility at each level.

Rice from the godown is carried in trucks to the PDS outlets. The trucks are tightly controlled by route charts. The chart displays quantity of rice carried, the route to be adhered to and the shop where the rice is to be delivered. Any elected representative or official, who notices any deviation from the route, is authorised to check the vehicle and report to the nearest Control room is opened at every district to receive information on diversion of rice. To prevent mass diversion of rice by the truck driver or the agent, an assistant from the department accompanies the truck. He is provided with a special SIM card attached to a BSNL tower and through this the movement of the truck can be tracked from the control room. The government has introduced an online godown monitoring system to enable online capturing of all transactions in the godown.

An SMS based fair price shop monitoring system is established to check the stock position at each fair price shop on daily basis. It keeps a tab on sudden increase in off-take of rice. Any abnormal off-take of rice draws the attention of vigilance team that swings into action. Electronic weighing machines are provided at each fair price shop to ensure correct quantity of rice delivery. Hand-held billing machines with GPRS connection have been installed to enable real time monitoring of sales and stock at each fair price shop.

A helpline that responds sincerely to public complaints against fair price shops and instant action by authorities to address the complaints, completes the sound system of rice distribution in Tamil Nadu.

Besides instituting a similar mechanism in our state, actions urgently needed are:
a) to keep away the political entities and their associates from the PDS system,
b) to motivate the officials to be honest and sincere,
c) to form a small team of chosen, honest policemen in each district for prompt response to prevent misappropriation and diversion of rice,
d) a mechanism to promptly punish wrong doers.

Lack of adequate and prompt punitive action by the authorities has emboldened the wrong doers to resort to large scale malpractices and e) the trucks used for carrying rice be painted in a particular colour for easy identification and the route to be taken by such trucks to reach the Fair Price Shop/outlet, which is already painted on the truck, be announced in newspapers and local TV channels, so that the citizens too can keep an eye on them.

It is high time the government starts earning a name of ‘Good Governance’, by taking corrective actions to avoid past mistakes.