Difficult Times Ahead of Public Distribution Scheme : Daily Current Affairs

Relevance: GS-2:Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections of the population by the Centre and States and the Performance of these Schemes;

Key Phrases: PMGKAY, PDS, NFSA, Rights based approach from Welfare based approach; Chhattisgarh’s PDS reform.

PMGKAY (PM Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana) and provisions under National Food Security Act 2013 through Public Distribution System provided food security to significant rural and urban population during pandemic.
- PMGKAY was one of the many immediate measures as a part of bouquet of social safety measures in order to provide social safety net to vulnerable households.
But this intervention was made possible due to high production of foodgrains and low commodity prices, which calls for a relook due to change in the status quo.

Rationale for success of interventions against hunger and malnutrition.
Agriculture Sector outperformed other sectors
- During the various lockdowns , farmers
  - Harvested their standing rabi crop from late March 2020.
  - Aggressively planted for the next two seasons.
Agriculture was the only sector to grow 3.3% in 2020-21 (overall economy contracted by 4.8%).
As per CMIE’s, the farm sector added 11 million jobs (2019-20 to 2021-22).
- During these three years, the rest of the economy shed 15 million jobs.
The most significant achievement in FY 21 and 22 was India’s public distribution system (PDS) truly coming of age and delivering at a time of crisis.
- Sales of rice and wheat under various government schemes totalled 92.9 million tonnes (mt) in 2020-21 and 105.6 mt in 2021-22.
Comparing this with previous average offtake
- 62.5 mt during the first seven years after the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013-14 and
- 48.4 mt in the seven years preceding the legislation.

The NFSA legally entitled 75% of India’s rural and 50% of the urban population.
- From welfare to rights based approach.
Approx 813.5 million people receive 5 kg of grain per person per month at highly subsidised rates of
- Rs 2/kg for wheat,
- Rs 3/kg for rice and
- Rs 5/kg for pulses
PMGKAY was implemented for eight months (April-November) in 2020-21 and 11 months (May-March) of 2021-22.
- Gave NFSA beneficiaries 5 kg grain per person per month free of cost (Over and above NFSA entitlements).
- One kg Chana (Pulses) to every household.

Till the early 2000s, only a few states (Kerala, TN and AP), had well-functioning PDS.
In the late-2000s, Chhattisgarh initiated reforms
- This was followed by Odisha, MP and West Bengal.

Curbing diversion/leakages by entrusting the running of FPS (fair price shops) to cooperatives and local bodies (instead of private licensees),
Timely allocation
Supplying grain directly to PDS outlets (bypassing middle-level distribution agencies),
Using IT to track dispatches right from procurement centres to points of sale.

Success stories of ensuring the right to food paid off politically as well.
Chhattisgarh saw the win of incumbent ruling party.
- Successive wins in 2008 and 2013 Assembly elections under Raman Singh, who earned the sobriquet “Chawal Waale Baba (rice monk)”.
West Bengal saw re-election of Mamta Bannerjee with an enhanced majority in the 2016 West Bengal polls.
UP saw re-election on the back of the government’s focus on not just expanding the reach of the PDS, but also last-mile delivery of grain to the intended beneficiaries.

A stark change in handling crisis.
- PDS delivered both when and where it mattered.
- Unlike the 1943 Bengal or 1966-67 Bihar famines, Covid-19 - India’s first major national disaster not to record widespread starvation.
- People in the poorest states got something to eat amid massive job and income losses.
Provision of social safety net.
- The PDS was the only effective social safety net during the pandemic.
Specific variations from state to state.
- Kerala leveraged its PDS network to supply free food kits to all ration card holders during form August 2021.
- These monthly kits contain items (from coconut oil, pulses, sugar and salt to tea, coriander, turmeric, chilli powder and soap) on top of PDS allocation.

Due to the superabundance of rice and wheat in government granaries, PDS could be expanded.
- Official wheat procurement is likely to halve this time from last year’s record 43.3 mt, due to crop loss by the abnormal march temperature.
- Rice stocks are stocked aplenty but the precarious supply situation in fertilisers raises questions about the prospects for the coming kharif season.
- It would be difficult to pull off the success of PMGKAY due to low procurement, but in the meantime PDS level procurement (60-65 mt) could be maintained.
- Rising food inflation could significantly increase the procurement cost.

The golden chapter of the PDS was scripted in an environment of low global commodity prices and surplus domestic foodgrain production.
The PDS was originally meant to protect ordinary people from extraordinary price rises. Whether it can do that at a time of renewed global inflation remains to be seen.

Source: The Indian Express

Mains Question

Q) Explain the provisions of PM Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana. What are its achievements and the challenges faced in the present time?