In the run-up to the 2024 general elections, the Food Corporation of India wrote to all its 26 regional offices on January 12, 2024, asking them to float tenders for bags with an indicative logo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in order to distribute food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, or PMGKAY. Months later, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh, Modi proudly spoke about his government’s scheme of free rations implemented in 2020, telling those in attendance that he empathised with  those who had known hunger.

In August 2023, his government had admitted to the Supreme Court that a comparison of the Ministry of Labour and Employment’s e-Shram data and records maintained by the Department of Food and Public Distribution revealed that approximately 80 million people do not have ration cards. This, in turn, meant that these 80 million Indians do not benefit from the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. 

Independent researchers put the number of Indians who are in need of rations, but are effectively denied food security, to be an estimated 130 million, or 13 crore. 

The National Food Security Act, 2013, entitled up to 75 percent of the rural population and 50 percent of the urban population to receive subsidised food grains under a targeted public distribution system. About two thirds – 67 percent – of the country’s population is covered under the Act. Based on this coverage, ration quotas are determined and funds are allocated by the central government to various states and union territories accordingly.

The identification of beneficiaries is intended to be an ongoing process carried out by states/UTs based on predefined criteria. Beneficiaries are categorised into two groups: Priority Households (PHH) and households under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). PHH beneficiaries receive 5 kg of food grains per person per month while AAY households receive 35 kg per family per month. These food grains – rice, wheat, and coarse cereals – are provided at subsidised prices ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 3 per kilogram.

During the Modi government’s first term, the implementation of NFSA continued across the country with no substantial tweaks. In 2020, in response to the pandemic, the centre introduced Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which provided an additional five kg of free food grains per month to families covered by PDS, alongside the existing subsidised rations under NFSA. Starting January 1, 2023, the government merged these two schemes into a single program – PMGKAY – and the additional five kg of free food grains was discontinued. The original 5 kg per person per month provided under NFSA (which was earlier provided at subsidised rates) is now given for free. This revised scheme has been extended for another five years, beginning January 1, 2024.

However, experts have raised concerns regarding the efficacy of this public distribution system. “If we map the the latest available state-wise projected population figures with the number of beneficiaries of the integrated PMGKAY/NFSA scheme in every state as of January 31, 2023, the state-wise average percentage of population covered under PMGKAY/NFSA comes out to be around 60 percent when it should be at least 67 percent as per the National Food Security Act, 2013,” said economist Dipa Sinha, assistant professor at the School of Liberal Studies, Ambedkar University, Delhi. 

A chronology in court

Komal works as domestic help and earns Rs 4,000 a month. She had applied for a ration card in 2021, but is yet to receive either the card or  its benefits. 

This is because the quotas are full. Even though they are entitled to a total of 25 kg of ration, Komal and her family – she has three children, of whom one is an infant and the other two are under five years old, and a husband – often starve for days and receive no rations. Earlier this year, when she was pregnant with her third child, Komal said she spent half of her pregnancy on an empty stomach and often relied on gurudwaras for meals. Her oldest, a four-year old girl, was born with a deformed leg because of calcium deficiency. 

“Some days, [my] children sleep without food. When they ask for food and I don’t have any, I have to scold and put them to sleep,” she said. 

Her two older children, both daughters, haven’t had milk in years. Only the infant, a son, is given milk and Komal uses 500 ml for three days by diluting the milk with water. “The baby should feed on my breast milk but I cannot produce any. The doctors say it is because I am very weak and malnourished,” she told Newslaundry. 

The current PDS quota, covering two-thirds of the country's population, is based on the 13-year-old figures from Census 2011. As a result, many families who are eligible and have applied for ration cards have not been issued any, because the government says the quotas are full. 

According to estimates by economists Jean Drèze, Reetika Khera and Meghana Mungikar, as of 2020, more than 100 million people were excluded from PDS because the centre insists on using the 2011 census population figures to calculate state-wise coverage under NFSA. In 2021, advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Harsh Mander and Jagdeep Chhokar, filed an intervention plea with the SC, pointing to the failure of the central government to conduct the decadal Census after 2011, which they said had led to millions being deprived of rations. In response, the SC directed the government to identify those excluded from the PDS and ensure they receive rations.

Prior to this, in 2020, the SC had taken suo-motu cognisance of the hardships faced by migrant workers during the lockdown and the Covid-19 pandemic, and directed the government to address the issue of ration provision for them. A large number of migrant workers were excluded from the PDS due to outdated quotas and various bureaucratic technicalities. During the pandemic, these exclusions became more obvious.

In June 2022, the government informed the SC that the Census had been postponed indefinitely. Thereafter, the court directed the government to use projected population figures to increase the ration quota accordingly. Despite these directions, no action was taken.

In April 2023, the SC directed the government to refer to the registrations of migrant and unorganised sector workers made on its e-Shram portal, identifying all those without ration cards and including them under the NFSA. Four months later, the Ministry of Labour & Employment carried out matching of the e-Shram data with ration card records from the Department of Food and Public Distribution. It was found that as of February 22, 2023, out of 285.9 million eShram registrants, around 80 million do not have ration cards. The SC directed that ration cards be given to these 80 million workers.

By March 2024, the government had still not taken any action in this matter. The SC reiterated its April 2023 order, directing the immediate release of rations for all those left out of the PDS. In July this year, the SC, describing the continued inaction of both central and state governments as “atrocious”, gave them four weeks to comply. The centre filed an affidavit on August 25, stating that it cannot provide rations to more people till the Census is carried out. On September 2, the SC directed Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to file a comprehensive affidavit within a period of three weeks on behalf of the Union of India, on whether the directions passed by the court in suo moto proceedings on granting ration cards to migrant workers have been complied with by the government. 

While some states have begun issuing new ration cards, a very few have submitted affidavits detailing the number of new cards issued. Most of the states are yet to initiate this process.

‘The hungry cannot wait’

The Supreme Court, in the case’s last hearing dated October 4, refrained itself from issuing a contempt notice and gave the Centre and states one last chance till Nov 19, 2024 to issue Ration Cards and provide foodgrains to all migrant workers and unskilled workers, who have been identified as such by the respective States/Union Territories, irrespective of their upper limit on food distribution under NFSA.

While noting, “Patience may be a virtue – but ours is nearing its end,” the court declared that non-compliance of this order would require the Secretary/ies (Food and Civil Supplies) of the concerned states to remain present in person before this Court on the next date of hearing, to explain the reason for their non-compliance.

While considering the Section 9 argument by the Union, the SC briefly remarked that Section 9 would not prohibit giving ration beyond the limit prescribed under the Act.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan submitted a chart with data from all the states/UTs to the Court. As per the data, while 1.45 lakh people were found eligible for ration cards from Karnataka, only 13,945 have been issued so far.

When sought a response, the State of Karnataka told the Court that it was in the process of issuing ration cards to the remaining people. To this, the Court remarked orally, “Oh, so your process will take another year? For your process, will they remain hungry? For a year, they should wait for your food? Strict action will be taken. We are issuing a notice of contempt… The hungry cannot wait.”

One ration card, many obstacles

Economist Dipa Sinha is an expert on development economics, food, nutrition, and public health. She told Newslaundry that there were question marks regarding the claims that the current government had expanded the food security net. 

“Since this government came to power, the real budget [adjusted for inflation] for all NFSA schemes [excluding PDS] has decreased. Neither have these schemes expanded to include more beneficiaries over the years, nor has the quality of food provided improved," said Sinha. Reports by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA India) and Accountability Initiative corroborate this, indicating a real-term decline in budget allocations for NFSA schemes other than PDS.

Sinha explained that funding for PDS is automatically adjusted for inflation because the government buys grains at minimum support prices (MSP), which rise over time, while the selling price (Rs 2-3 per kg) remains fixed. The difference between these prices constitutes the food subsidy. Consequently, the focus should be on whether the increase in population is reflected in ration quotas. 

“The population is growing, but the ration quotas have not increased, except for a temporary increase during the pandemic. In absolute terms, the yearly budgets for PDS have increased, but that is because of the increase in MSPs. In terms of the percentage of GDP, it has been more or less the same every year (other than during the pandemic) for the last decade,” said Sinha. 

The government implemented the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) plan in February 2021 for “nation-wide portability of ration cards” under NFSA. On paper, this allows beneficiaries to receive their entitled foodgrains from any fair price shop in the country, irrespective of where the ration card is registered. However, this ideal scenario doesn't always align with reality. 

Munish, a migrant worker who lives in Jagdamba Camp slum in Delhi, told Newslaundry that if she lifts ration in Delhi, her family in a village in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, doesn’t get their share. “I don’t get ration here. If I lift the ration here, my family in the village won’t be able to get their share. I have been told by the administration [Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Delhi] that one family can get ration [for all the members] at one location only.”

While reporting on this story, we found numerous cases contradicting ONORC’s provisions due to unclear guidelines and widespread confusion among fair price dealers and beneficiaries regarding its implementation. In this way, a measure that was supposed to extend food security to more Indians appears to be having the opposite effect.  

The problem of e-KYC

Adding yet another obstacle to the process of availing rations, the government has recently directed that all 810 million ration cardholders will have to undergo biometric verification through a process known as e-KYC. When reportedly 99.8 percent of ration cards have already  been linked to Aadhaar, the government continues to push for e-KYC, which, according to Sinha, is “essentially for biometric verification to ensure that the Aadhaar number provided is genuinely yours”.

Last month, the advocacy network Right to Food Campaign issued a statement reporting “immense distress and problems” caused nationwide due to the government’s e-KYC verification process. People are receiving messages from fair price shop dealers to complete the e-KYC to prevent their ration cards from being cancelled. 

“A vast majority of fair price shop dealers in Delhi have refused to carry out the e-KYC verification process. Only a few dealers are complying, primarily motivated by the opportunity to solicit additional bribes from beneficiaries,” said Saurabh Gupta, a fair price shop dealer in RK Puram, New Delhi. Gupta is also a member of Delhi Sarkari Ration Dealers Sangh and the media incharge of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation. In response to the direction regarding e-KYC, the Delhi Sarkari Ration Dealers Sangh has filed a petition in the high court, contending that the responsibility for conducting e-KYC verification of beneficiaries does not fall within the mandate of ration dealers.

Right to Food Campaign activists reported widespread confusion about where to complete the e-KYC, with migrants being instructed to return to their hometowns with their entire families to complete the process. Sinha said, “Challenges such as patchy internet connectivity, changed phone numbers, and discrepancies in biometric data are complicating the process.” These issues are likely to create unnecessary obstacles which may result in many existing cardholders being striked off the registered list. 

Merely 15 days before the deadline (September 30, 2024), the Department of Food & Public Distribution posted on X (formerly Twitter) that e-KYC verification can be completed at any ration shop within the country. Presumably this was meant to simplify the process, but activists have expressed concern that this information may not reach all beneficiaries and fair price shop dealers in time.

Dr Jayati Ghosh, an eminent development economist and professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in America, warned that the e-KYC was likely to be a “disaster”, highlighting that a similar Aadhaar biometric linkage has already been obstructive and exclusionary, depriving many workers of wages and people of food rations due to them under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, because of issues like fingerprint changes, malfunctioning machines and poor internet connectivity.

“The claim that this [e-KYC] will fight corruption is not true,” argued Ghosh. “This is basically denying deserving people [their right to free ration].” 

She emphasised that the proper approach would be to conduct a Census as e-KYC overlooks the most vulnerable populations, such as the homeless and nomadic tribes, who often lack necessary documents. “The most vulnerable people will precisely be the ones who are least able to do eKYC,” she said.

Toll on migrant workers

Amrita Johri, an activist associated with RFTC, said one reason for the government to demand the e-KYC was an anxiety about ghost beneficiaries. 

“Firstly, there is no conclusive evidence to support this claim,” she said, with reference to concerns regarding false identities being used to benefit from the government’s welfare schemes. “More effective methods for addressing corruption exist, such as displaying ration card lists at gram panchayats and ration shops, decentralised and accessible grievance redress systems, and ensuring periodic social audits. Since ghost beneficiaries cannot be included without collusion of the department, it’s important to focus on accountability rather than  exacerbating the difficulties being faced by the most marginalised and vulnerable sections of society.”

The panic around e-KYC has worsened the conditions for migrant workers like Munish. She received an urgent call from her mother-in-law who had been informed by the local ration shop dealer that their ration would be stopped if Munish didn't return for biometric verification. Forced to rush back to her village, Munish borrowed Rs 4,000 for travel expenses and took unpaid leave from her employers. Upon arriving, she was forced to stay a week since servers were down and the e-KYC could be done only after  multiple failed attempts. 

Back in Delhi, where she works in three households and earns Rs 8,000 a month, Munish says she relies on the food that she gets from her employers. “There have been many days when I slept hungry to feed my daughter. Even to feed her, I sometimes have to ask for food from my neighbours and relatives,” said Munish, who lives with her 13-year-old daughter in Delhi. 

Food surplus in India

India's ranking on the Global Hunger Index continues to decline every year – falling from 97 in 2016 to 111 out of 125 countries in 2023. The  index is calculated on four criteria: the general undernutrition of the population, the weight of children under five, their height, and their mortality rate. Only Haiti and twelve sub-Saharan African nations are ranked lower than India. 

In 2021, the ‘Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition’ report by the Food and Agriculture Organization pointed out that “74.1 percent of Indians were unable to afford a healthy diet”. “By ‘affordability’, it means [that] if you have to spend more than 55 percent of your income to buy something, it means you cannot aff0rd it,” explained Ghosh, adding that the government “didn’t like it when this data came out”. She said the FAO has been forced to change its methodology and Ghosh expects the numbers that will be released this year will show a drastic improvement because of those changes. 

“This government's approach in dealing with any problem is by wishing it away and manipulating the  numbers to show that the problem doesn't even exist,” said Ghosh. 

Recently, this strategy was employed with the National Family Health Survey, when NFHS-5, which covered 2019 to 2021, revealed that approximately one-third of Indian children who are aged under five years are also underweight. Their physical specifications indicate chronic undernutrition – 36 percent are too short for their age; 19 percent are too thin for their height; and 32 percent are underweight. The survey also reported that 67 percent of children (aged six to 59 months), 57 percent of women and 25 percent of men (aged 15 to 49 years) are anaemic. 

“The data presented in the latest NFHS displeased the government, which led to the suspension of the director of the International Institute for Population Sciences, the agency in charge of this report. The government decided that from now on, the NFHS surveys will no longer measure anaemia,” wrote Christophe Jaffrelot, Hemal Thakker and Vignesh Rajahmani in an article.

At the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists, held in August this year, PM Modi declared India a food surplus country. He said, “India is a food surplus country; we are working on solutions for global food security.”

Ghosh had a very different interpretation of the ground reality. “Because we are not feeding all our people properly, we are not a food surplus nation,” she said. “We have a PDS and NFSA which are giving basic food grains (wheat and/or rice), but not the whole package. What about pulses, oil etc? Only some states in the South are giving the whole package.” 

With a PDS that provides only cereals, low wages that make it difficult for the financially-weaker sections of the population to access fruits and vegetables, and climate-centric challenges that affect agricultural yield, there is an urgent need to address the obstacles faced by India in its quest for food security. 

A detailed questionnaire has been submitted to the Joint Secretary (NFSA) and Director (NFSA). If we receive any response from them, the article will be amended to include their answers. 

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