It's official: Half of the poor's ration pilfered

NEW DELHI: Rajiv Gandhi''s famous remark in the mid-80s that only 15 paise out of Re 1 allocated for welfare schemes reached home was written off as off-the-cuff. But 20 years later, the Indian bureaucracy is endorsing the statement, backing it with research and figures.
The Planning Commission''s programme evaluation division discovered that in 2003-04, more than 50 per cent of the foodgrain meant to go to persons below poverty line did not reach them.It was probably pilfered on the way. So much for targeted distribution!
This means Rs 4,123 crore of subsidy for the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (TPDS) went down the drain. The government prefers to call it "leakage".
The commission surveyed 3,600 households in 18 states. In its preliminary findings, it found that the maximum leakages were in Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. In these states, more than 50% of the foodgrain meant to be distributed to the poor under TPDS simply got lost.
Even the assessment of the targeted population in some states was wrong. The plan panel found more than 20% of the people above poverty line were getting benefits meant for the poor in states like Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Incidentally, Andhra and Tamil Nadu are two states besides Meghalaya and Maharashtra where fair price shops are doing good business.
Only 23 per cent of these shops are financially viable, yielding more than 12% return on capital.
"If the targeted schemes are meeting such a fate, then serious doubts can be raised on the general programmes. The survey''s findings strengthen the need for strict evaluation of all existing programmes," said a senior official.