NHRC bats for public distribution system to help drought-hit people

With many states reeling under drought, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson HL Dattu on Thursday batted for bringing the affected people under the targeted public distribution system (PDS) to ensure food for all.

Dattu said there was no dearth of policies and programmes for ensuring food for all, but the focus now should be on their effective implementation, especially for proper stocking and distribution and avoiding wastage, which remain areas of concern.

He referred to government reports as per which 254 districts in 10 states were reeling under drought and a quarter of population was severely affected. “How can we extend the services of providing foodgrains under TPDS to a large section of society reeling under the effect of drought, as a short-term and long-term strategy, also needs to be made part of the discussion with reference to Right to Food and National Food Security Act,” he said at the Conference on Right to Food, organised by the Commission.

“The ultimate goal of the National Food Security Act, integrated with various social welfare schemes, should be that nobody should fall prey to begging for food,” he added. 

He stressed on analysing the impact of steps like transferring direct subsidy and urged all sections of society to become a “watchdog” and work towards ensuring that programmes are implemented in right earnest instead of falling prey to the “allurements of pilferage”. “It is not only for the governments but for all sections of society to work towards ensuring that the programmes and schemes towards ensuring food for all are implemented in right earnest so that nobody sleeps without food,” he said.

“The people themselves need to become watchdog of the welfare schemes instead of falling prey to the allurements of pilferage. They must stop thinking about the government as a separate entity from them," Dattu said.

He said the criticism of the government,particularly on food security front, cannot take away the responsibility on the part of the every citizen of the country.

Mentioning several programmes such as the Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY), Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and many others, Dattu said, “There is no dearth of policy and programmes. The question can be raised only about their effective implementation.” Noting that there was improvement in food grain production, he said its stocking and distribution among the needy continues to remain a point of concern.

“It pains to know that 15 per cent of food worth Rs 92 thousand crore per year is wasted during production, harvesting, transportation and storage, as per a study by Union Ministry of Food and Processing Industries,” he said.

“It needs to be discussed as to what extent the efforts to check the leakages in the TPDS have been effective as well as the impact of efforts like transferring direct subsidy," Dattu said. “Issues such as shortage of storage facilities, the issue like location of PDS shops need to be looked into. If the centres for distribution of food grain under TPDS are located at long distance, it becomes difficult for people to approach them.