Universalise PDS in Tribal areas
Universalise PDS in Tribal areas
To 13 May, 2021
Mr. Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy
Hon’ble Chief Minister
Andhra Pradesh
Dear Sir,
Sub-Exclusions in PDS in tribal areas, recommendations.. Regd..
We introduce ourselves as representatives of “United Forum for RTI Campaign- AP (UFRTI-AP)”. We
are a confederation of civil society organizations and individuals working on matters relating to the
Right to Information Act and transparency in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
The clampdown of economic activities in 2020 during the pandemic lead to the loss of livelihood of
thousands across the country. Vulnerable communities were particularly affected, with many facing
loss of income, and food insecurity. In this context, relief measures announced by the central and state
governments proved to be life-saving for many. In 2021, with the second wave of COVID-19 hitting
even harder, once again thousands face insecurity and precarity for a prolonged period of time. The
state has announced some welcome measures, including enhancement of entitlements along with
door-to-door delivery of rations, but a few crucial shortcomings must be pointed 0ut.
Andhra Pradesh has a considerable tribal population (5 million, 2011 census), and they are primarily
located in the 35 Scheduled mandals spread across different districts of the state. These areas are also
home to the PVTGs, some of the most vulnerable groups in the country. The pandemic exacerbated
their vulnerability, leaving many dependent entirely on the state for providing essentials like rations.
In this context, the importance of the PDS cannot be overstated, and it is crucial to ensure that no
tribal family is excluded.
While the AP government has certainly taken welcome steps in increasing coverage of PDS, we would
like to draw attention to certain crucial exclusions in PDS coverage in the tribal areas. Information
acquired using RTI, field observations, and secondary data revealed the following
- Number of tribal families are without ration cards
- Reduction in the number of ration cards in agency areas in the last one year. (About 8,500)
- Number of tribal families losing out their ration cards due to a faulty 6 step verification
process, which offers a complicated system for redressal.
Rectifying wrongful exclusion is a difficult, technical, and expensive process. Resolution often
requires the rightsholder to travel to the block/district headquarters and engage with the technical
and confusing bureaucracy. The vulnerable and marginalised tribes may need to cross rivers and
forests, travel many kilometres, and spend their own money to correct the errors for which they are
not responsible. The burden of proving ineligibility must lie on the state, and not the other way round.
In this light, we make the following recommendations.
1. PDS must be made universal. Targeted PDS will always lead to exclusion errors, and often
disproportionately high exclusions for those who might need it the most. Universalising PDS
for the duration of the pandemic, and especially in Scheduled mandals, is most important.
2. Aadhaar must be removed as a compulsory identification document for all ration processes,
including applying, verifying, and biometric authentication while distributing rations. Not
only is the Aadhaar centre often very far, fixing mistakes in Aadhaar cards is a long and
complicated process. For instance, the Jharkhand government suspended mandatory
Biometric authentication, for ration withdrawal till 31st May in the wake of Covid spread.
3. Grievance Redressal/correction process for mistaken exclusions is difficult and not
tribal-friendly. It must be redesigned, and located entirely at ITDA level.
4. The subsidised/free ration should be diversified. Adding pulses will be a very important step
towards ensuring better nutrition of vulnerable families, who often engage in physically
strenuous labour.
5. There is much strain on distribution and collecting of rations, especially for remote areas that
have low and negligible connectivity. Distributors and ration beneficiaries both have to travel
long and difficult routes to collect ration every month. Releasing rations for multiple months
at once would help in decreasing the burden on the state and the beneficiaries both.
Vaccination:
Many tribals are running the risk of missing Covid vaccine as Aadhar is made mandatory for
vaccination. We recommend the state government to follow the Odisha example and accept any ID
issued by the governments and incase of people without any other ID, arrangements should be made
for issuing IDs.
Regards,
Chakradhar Buddha Emmanuel Dasari
(Co-Convenor, UFRTI-AP) (Co-Convenor, UFRTI-AP)
posted by United Forum for RTI Campaign-AP @ May 13, 2021
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