How has Odisha’s public distribution system fared after one year of its new government?

The Public Distribution System (PDS) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) covers approximately 80 crore (800 million) people nationwide, including 3.26 crore (32.6 million) in Odisha. The state government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party recently completed a year in power. Immediately after taking the reins, the minister of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare (FCSW) department, Krushna Chandra Patra, alleged that 50 lakh (five million) ration card holders were bogus and the scheme was filled with ineligible people because of their link with the outgoing ruling party. The state government vowed to clean up the system. But how far has it come? Let us discuss.  

EKYC drive: limited success and lingering challenges

The department initiated an aggressive electronic know your customer (EKYC) drive from August 2024 to ensure 100 per cent compliance of ration card holders, following a directive from the Union government. Even after extending timelines multiple times, only 5.23 lakh (0.523 million) dead and ineligible ration card holders have been identified and deleted from the list. The 10-month-long drive has been a hassle for large numbers of ration card holders. But it could achieve only 10 per cent of its claimed target. On the other hand, 24 lakh EKYCs are pending, the majority of whom are children below 10 years and elderly people. Patra has said the last date for EKYC verification was June 30 and the state government will suspend ration cards of all 20.58 lakh (2.058 million) people for not doing EKYC.

Expanding coverage: scope remains

The state government had received 13.86 lakh (1.386 million) applications for new ration cards of which it distributed to 5.9 lakh (0.59 million) applicants, and the fate of the remaining 8 lakh (0.8 million) is uncertain. The state had launched the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS) in 2018 with a target of covering 25 lakh (2.5 million) eligible but left out people. But it presently covers only 4.20 lakh (0.42 million). The state government was buying rice and wheat from the Union government at the price of Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kilogram respectively as prescribed under the NFSA and distributing it to the ration card holders at Re 1 per kilogram. The Union government changed its policy from January 2024 and has started providing free food grains to NFSA ration card holders in the country for the next five years. With this policy change, the state government does not have to pay its share for the state’s 3.26 crore (32.6 million) ration card holders, resulting in a saving of approximately Rs 600 crore annually. The savings can be used to expand the coverage of the SFSS and include all eligible but left out persons in the state.

According to the National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-21), Odisha suffers from a high burden of malnutrition with 31 per cent of the children stunted and 30 per cent underweight, along with 64 per cent of the population being anemic. To address the malnutrition and food insecurity of the population, one of the major demands of the people has been inclusion of oil, dal and salt as part of the PDS. For the state government, which boasts of revenue surplus budgets over the year, finding money for the necessary nutritional requirements of the people who are suffering from anemia and malnutrition must not be a problem.

The exclusion criteria: revision awaits

The other aspect that is essential to look into is the exclusion criteria that was set in 2014, before rolling out NFSA implementation in the state. The exclusion criteria that has been a major cause of concern for ration card holders is the income criteria. It says, “households having members earning more than ten thousand per month in rural and fifteen thousand per month in urban areas shall be excluded from the NFSA”. It has already been more than a decade since the criteria was set and the period has seen high inflation and price rise, necessitating the need for revision of the criteria. A thorough deliberation is required to revise the exclusion norms, bringing together different stakeholders.

Transparency and accountability: falling short of legal mandate

Section 27 of the NFSA mandates transparency of all records and putting it in the public domain for public access and inspection. Contrary to the mandate, the department portal does not have the important policy documents such as NFSA 2013, Odisha PDS control order, the Odisha State Food Security (TPDS) Rules 2020, or any major orders issued by the department. The portal does not have any data or information of the SFSS ration card holders, as if the scheme does not exist.

Most links in the transparency portal are broken. One of the authors wrote a piece on the issue nine months back and we could not find any improvement since then. The state could learn from the portals like Jharkhand’s Aahar portal. 

Section 17 of the Odisha State Food Security (TPDS) Rules 2020 mandates a periodic social audit of fair price shops. The department has roped in the Odisha Society for Social Audit, Accountability and Transparency (OSSAAT), for conducting social audit of PDS. It is a state government body set up for conducting social audits of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. On its website, we do not find anything of value. All it houses are some PDS verification formats, and an abstract of a social audit conducted in 2020-21 on NFSA. 

Section 16 of NFSA mandates the state governments to constitute a State Food Commission (SFC) with a chairperson, five members and a member secretary. Odisha notified the Odisha State Food Commission Rules in 2016. It is one of the few states that has a full-fledged SFC with a chairperson and five members. The portal of SFC has just one judgement, not a single field visit report apart from a few pictures and no advisories. The last annual report it has uploaded is for 2020-21. It has not set up any grievance mechanism independently such as a dedicated Whatsapp number, email id or phone number where an aggrieved person can lodge her grievance. There is no clarity on the numbers of appeals it has received from the complainant after being unsatisfied with the orders of the district grievance redressal officers, who are the primary point for lodging grievances under NFSA at the district level.  

Way forward

The state government must:

1. Resolve the bottleneck of the pending EKYC process without making it a hassle for the left outs.

2. Expand the coverage of the PDS covering all eligible people, along with broadening the food basket by including dal, salt and oil. It should also revise the exclusion criteria involving different stakeholders.

3. Ensure transparency by revamping the PDS portal, making it accessible and transparent on the lines of the best in the country. The transparency should go beyond the digital medium, where all necessary information is made available for people at the Panchayat and local levels.

4. The state must conduct regular social audits of the scheme involving local civil society organisations and putting the findings in the public domain.

5. It is important that the state work with the SFCs to make them accessible with dedicated helplines, Whatsapp, email ids, etc and strengthen the district grievance redressal officers, making it easier for people to lodge their grievances.

Sameet Panda is associated with the Right to Food Campaign and Libetch and Manoranjan Swain is with the Right to Food Campaign.

Views expressed are the authors’ own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth