Concerned over the huge mismatch between the Central estimate of 6.5 crores below poverty line families and the 11 crores BPL cards issued by the states under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the food ministry has warned all the bogus card holders to surrender them or face criminal prosecution.
The warning has been issued following the Supreme Court’s directive on August 31 asking the government to reform the TPDS and provide grains to the poor rather than let them go waste.
The food ministry order asked states to issue advertisements for the same, following which the bogus card-holders will have to surrender their card to the authorities concerned or face criminal proceedings as per law.
The issue of weeding out bogus ration cards has become critical for the ministry which has assured the apex court that it will overhaul the TPDS and increase the number of the BPL beneficiaries from the current levels.
Fearing corruption in the implementation of TPDS, eating into the burgeoning food subsidy bill pegged at `58,000 crores, the government has been pestering the states to take up the issue of exclusion/inclusion errors in the scheme at top priority.
Sources said though the government has detected 1.74 crores bogus ration cards across 23 states since 2006, it has made no effort towards identification and inclusion of the poor in the welfare scheme meant to provide food security for them.
Exactly for that reason, the SC had pulled up the ministry for taking its orders of distributing food grains among the millions of hungry rather than let them go waste, lightly.
In order to streamline the functioning of TPDS, a 9-point action plan is under implementation by states/Union Territory governments since July 2006.
But with poverty rising, the states have been asking the centre to revise the count of BPL under the TPDS from the current tally.