World is facing a global health crisis. COVID-19 is upendingpeople’s lives. But this is much more than a health crisis. It is a human,economic and social crisis. COVID-19 is attacking societies at their core. Itaffects all segments, all sections of society and is particularly detrimentalto members of those groups in the most vulnerable situations. To mitigate thesufferings of the poor, government has announced free ration to the belowpoverty level (BPL) ration card holders, free gas cylinder refilling for threemonths to the poor beneficiaries under Ujjwala scheme, advance payments underPrime Minister Kisan Yojana (PMKY), release of pre and post matric scholarshipto students, etc. Although the initiative is commendable but the question is,are the benefits reaching to those for whom the social security programmes wereactually launched? A cursory look unveils the sorry state of affairs. They aremarred with loopholes, mismanagement and administrative maladies. AlthoughCOVID-19 has brought sufferings tocommon masses but it has also highlighted the loopholes in the decades-oldpublic distribution system (PDS) in India — something that has kept millions ofbeneficiaries out of the safety net and ignited calls for universalizing thePDS. It brought into limelight the administrative glitches in Ujjwala schemethat so far were out of mind of common masses. It exposed those beneficiariesreceiving benefits under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOPS)who otherwise are not eligible. Here I will highlight the poor state of affairsof three social security schemes namely Public Distribution Scheme (PDS),Ujjawala Yojana and Indira Gandhi National Old Pension Scheme(IGNOPS) , that I witnesses in my village during the COVID times.
Problems with Public Distribution System (PDS)
As the store keeper started distributing free ration to thebeneficiaries I became conscious while glancing through the long queue. I couldfind the people who are having good source of income, enough land holding whichcan feed a mohalla for a year, and government employees, waiting to receivefree ration. To mention here government has announced that free ration is onlymeant for those households who are holding BPL ration cards. Out of curiosity Istarted questioning how come those people who are well off and do not deservefree ration manage to get it. The answer that I got is simple and clear, theyhold BPL ration cards. On the other hand in another side of the ration saleoutlet I heard a group of people pointing towards a person who despite beingpoor was unable to receive free ration. After digging deep into it, there cameout so many people like him who despite having completed all formalities areyet to receive ration cards, hence denied free ration. This incidenthighlighted one more issue and possibly biggest loophole in the PDS system.Those who are poor and deserve BPLration cards has been issued APL ration cards and those who in terms of theirmonthly income and good source of living as per law must have been holding APLration cards are having BPL ration cards. The public distribution system (PDS),no doubt, protects a lot of people from hunger but the incident of my villagehighlights sorry state of affairs of PDS. The lists of eligible households arenot inclusive, it is illogical and unreliable, with a faulty list of eligiblehouseholds, PDS is full with high exclusion errors and irregular distribution.
Pradhan Mantri Ujawalla Yojana
India is home to more than 24 crore households out of whichabout 10 crore households are still deprived of LPG as cooking fuel and have torely on firewood, coal, cow dung etc., as primary source of cooking. The smokefrom burning such fuels causes alarming household pollution and adverselyaffects the health of women.
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by Prime Minister on May 1st, 2016.Under this scheme, 5 Cr LPG connections were provided to BPL families with asupport of Rs.1600 per connection in first 3 years. Although this scheme wasmeant for poor households but targeted population is hardly considered forbenefit. COVID-19 virus unveiled lack of proper implementation and rampantmiddlemanship in the scheme. Under the scheme non BPL households managed to receivegas connections which otherwise they could have easily afforded from openmarket. Many people who deserve to be enrolled under the scheme were excludedfrom the list. Shocking state of affairs is that scheme was launched in 2016and many poor households applied for the scheme, completed all formalities ontime but till April 2020 they did not received gas connection which althoughwhere sanctioned to them by the government much earlier. Sanctioned connectionshave been sold by the middlemen and gas agency owners in market thus deprivingpoor households from the benefit. Most of the households on whose nameconnection has been sanctioned received subsidy from the government in April2020 without actually receiving gas connections. It created hue and cry allover in villages which forced the owners of gas agencies to overnight arrangegas cylinders for the beneficiaries. This fraud is not specific to one districtor one village only but has engulfed almost whole valley. Recently Baramulladistrict has ordered inquiry against those who have sold Ujjawala gasconnections in private market instead of providing them to those for whom theywere sanctioned. This shows theloopholes, weak implementation and embezzlement under the scheme.
Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOPS)
Indira Gandhi Old Age Pension Scheme, (IGNOPS) is notwithout loopholes either. Although scheme was launched for the old age personswho are living distressful life and find it difficult to earn their livelihood.One wonders when one witnesses who receives benefit under the scheme and who isexcluded. Those who are younger and physically fit are receiving benefits. Factof the matter is that many old aged persons who deserve to be covered have beenexcluded. Moreover, those registered beneficiaries receiving benefits under thescheme but have already died have not been dropped from the list. Departmenthardly updates the list of beneficiaries. Government continuously releasesmoney to the accounts of deceased and ultimately the legal hires of deceasedsomehow get the documents signed from the Panchayats, Lumbardars and masjidcommittees; thus easily manage to withdraw sanctioned money. One more drawbackof the scheme is that old aged and handicapped beneficiaries have to travel8-10 kms to withdraw money from the banks. Those cases which where sanctionedprior to 2010 when J&K Bank had not opened enough branches in tehsils areyet to be transferred to the nearby branches of the beneficiaries.
Where lies the fault
Social security schemes highlighted above shows dismalpicture, so far as their implementation and impact is concerned. Although Ihave focused on only three schemes but the fate of other schemes like pre andpost matric scholarship for students, Prime Minister Kisan Yojana are more orless the same. Where lies the problem and who is responsible. If one digsdeeper into it, problem lies with the identification of beneficiaries. Properidentification is a must, it is here that wrong inclusion and exclusion ofbeneficiaries happens. It is here that a poor individual becomes rich overnighton papers and rich man turns poor by greasing palms of officials. As per thelaw, holding BPL ration card is must for an individual to be identified as apoor thus to be enrolled under social security schemes. There are so many perksassociated with the BPL/PHH/AAY/ rations cards that once a person irrespectiveof his/her social status manages to get, he can receive benefits of many socialsecurity schemes. Identification of poor households eligible for the schemesare done by Patwaris, Chowkidars, Panchayat members, store keepers posted inthe village. Influential and non-eligible households through officialpatronage, political clout and greasing the palms often manage to include theirnames in BPL list thus eligible for the perks associated with the BPL category.On official documents a rich man becomes poor, a fit person physicallychallenged and young ones old. For receiving compensation of damaged crops andorchards, officials overnight increase the land holding of farmers. Two kanalsof land holding can turn into 20 kanals and 50 apple trees into 500. this stateof affairs can be changed by ordering fresh survey of the beneficiariesenrolled under different social security schemes. Those who have already diedshould be weeded out from the beneficiary list. Need of the hour is toestablish village social security committee in every village that will ensurefool proof identification of eligible beneficiaries. Moreover, identificationof beneficiaries for social security schemes/compensation and enrollment of BPLhouseholds must be discussed in Gram Sabha’s in villages. After approval fromGram Sabha and concerned departments list of the selected beneficiaries shouldbe widely circulated in the villages and pasted outside the mosques. Social audit of poverty alleviationprogrammes/relief/compensation must be regularly conducted and report publishedtoo. Unfortunately in the era of transparency still secrecy is highlymaintained and encouraged.
Mairaj Bhat did his M.Phil. on Social Security Schemes, currently perusing PhD from Kashmir University.