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)