Wadhwa Committee Report

It is a reflection on the utter insensitivity of our bureaucracy that while the common man and poor people are reeling under sky-rocketing prices of food commodities, the subsidy provided by the government for distribution of food grain through the Public Distribution System (PDS) is being misused. Those responsible for this maladministration are making a raillery of the efforts being made by the government and at the same time, further making life difficult for the poor.

Progress and Welfare
Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had once asserted that of every rupee that the government releases for the country's progress and welfare, only Rs.0.06 go to the poor. One can easily surmise by that assertion how deep the malaise of corruption has entered into the system of Indian administration, and the lust of easy money has spoiled our bureaucracy. The comment made by late Rajiv Gandhi is applicable to the administration even to this day.

It won't be an exaggeration to say that in fact, the situation has gone worse. That is why the schism between the rich and the poor continues to widen. The life of the poor has become so difficult that let alone other necessary items and commodities he finds it difficult even to get a square meal a day. In such a scenario, if our bureaucracy sacrifices the amount earmarked by the government for providing food grain at subsidized rates to the poor at the altar of the corruption, it can only be termed utter insensitivity and nothing else.

Impact of Corruption
The Supreme Court had constituted a committee headed by a retired judge of the apex court, Justice D.P. Wadhwa, to investigate the details of the shortcomings of the PDS and recommend remedial measures. The Wadhwa Committee has revealed in its report that the huge subsidy of Rs.280 billion that the government provides to the PDS goes into the pockets of corrupt government officers, transporters, and mill owners. The committee has described the PDS as the most corrupt department in the country.

The committee has further disclosed that wheat meant for distribution to poor people directly reaches flour mils from warehouses. This implies that the wheat supply, which could give succor to a poor and provide a square meal to a hungry family, is directly filing up the coffers of corrupt officers, transports, and the mill owners. This way, the poor are being deprived of their dues.

Although the Wadhwa Committee has said nothing on the involvement of politicians in the matter, going by the prevailing situation in the country, the threads of every corrupt practice are linked to politicians. In this case also, it can be safely surmised that if the entire PDS were thoroughly investigated, involvement of some leaders would certainly get revealed.

Fast-Spreading Malignancy
The report likens corruption in the PDS as a fast-spreading malignancy, and has stressed the need to strike at the very roots of this gangrene. Yet, one wonders who would initiate any action against bureaucracy, officials, and politicians who are merged up to their ears in corruption?

Undoubtedly, our judiciary has initiated commendable measure to reform society, and to protect the rights of the poor but clearly, judiciary also has its own limitations. It is for the government to initiate measures to set things right in corrupt departments like the PDS or any other such department.

Below Poverty Line Card
Justice P.D. Wadhwa has disclosed that every PDS depot holder pays Rs. 1,200 to the police inspector every month, and the circle inspector of the Department of Civil Supplies asks for Rs.1, 000 as bribe every month. The committee has given indications of bribes being paid at every step. Even to get the Below Poverty Line (BPL) card issued, the gram Panchayat (local self-government) secretary takes a bribe of Rs. 500.

This implies that one has to pay through his nose to get oneself recognized as a poor person. When corruption has reached such a level, how can one expect that the poor would ever get his right, or that plans launched by the government for welfare of the poor would ever reach the targeted populace.

Food Guarantee in India

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government is reportedly considering enacting a legislation that guarantees to provide food for all. Recently, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee asked Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at the meeting of the empowered group of ministers to draft such a bill on national food security.
It is, however, not certain whether the proposed bill would be ready by the time the Parliamentary budget session commences, and what would be the provisions of the bill, who would be brought under its sphere, and whether it would be confined to people Below Poverty Line (BPL) or others would also be included?

Government's Initiatives
Whatever be it, the proposal can safely be termed a historic initiative of the UPA Government. A system that guarantees food can safely be termed an oasis in the vast expanse of a dessert at a time when the common man is groaning under the heavy yoke of sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities with food articles like wheat, pulses, and rice getting out of reach of the common man. Food security implies no one would die of hunger and starvation. It is, indeed, no easy task to give guarantee of providing food through enactment of legislation. Had it been an easy task, the UPA Government would have enacted and implemented the law even during last year, when President Pratibha Patil had referred to food security in her address to Parliament.
In fact, this is a very difficult, complex issue that also requires huge amount of money. If the report submitted by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee were accepted to be true, 38 percent of the country's populace falls in the category of living BPL. If the government drafts its budget in line with the report, it would need an estimated expenditure of Rs.450 billion. Further, the estimates of states are different than those of the committee. Various state governments maintain that the number of those living BPL is four to five times higher than the centrally projected figures. In such a scenario, the estimated expenditure may cross Rs.650 billion. Further, fixing the quantity of food grain and their price, and ensuring that no eligible person gets left out of its purview would be no less a horrendous task.

Legislation on Food Security
There are a large number of people in the country who continue to be deprived of ration cards even to this day. To get ration card issued, one needs a proper address where one lives, but there are thousands of homeless people. This raises the question of taking the scheme to cover homeless people. It is a complex issue indeed, without addressing which even the proposed legislation on food security may fail in its objective. There is, therefore, the need that the central and state governments together find a solution to the issue.
It has been noticed that state governments, at times, inflate the figures of those living BPL with a view to getting higher federal aid, and these governments do not usually substantiate their claim with concrete proof. Consequently, even during this era of science and technology, figures of BPL families continue to be disputed, and the targeted population for welfare of which the scheme was formulated suffers. Similarly, state governments would desire that while implementing the Food Security Act, it should remain outside the purview of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) schemes, and no scheme under NREGA be amalgamated with the proposed Food Security Act.

Price Hike of Essential Commodities
The UPA Government's decision to enact legislation on food security needs to be welcomed. It would be the second major and historic achievement of the UPA Government, after the Right To Education Act. It can be taken as a glimmer of hope for these poverty ridden people who find it difficult to get a square meal a day at a time when spiraling price hike of essential commodities has broken the back of the common man.
It is, perhaps, because of this that various political parties have impressed the need to enact such legislation as soon as possible. Yet, it would have gone a long way to provide succor to people had the bill been drafted before the Parliamentary budget session, due soon.