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Ration cut aimed at destroying PDS: Patnaik

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: State Planning Board vice-chairman Prabhat Patnaik has described the Centre’s decision to deny Kerala rice meant for distribution among the Above Poverty Line (APL) cardholders as a measure intended to destroy the State’s public distribution system (PDS).

“This is an attack on Kerala’s public distribution system and it is part of the neo-liberal agenda,” Prof. Patnaik told reporters when reacting to questions here on Sunday about the Central decision.

He pointed out that in effect the Centre was trying to remove the APL category of cardholders from the rationing system and added that since the BPL category as estimated by the Centre constituted only a small number of the needy in the State, the measure would see the end of PDS in the State.

The Planning Board vice-chairman said the present measure was only a continuation of a process that the Centre had set in motion in the mid-1990s by introducing the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).

“The TPDS was the first step. When they brought in the distinction between APL and BPL, they said we will give you food grain for the APL, but you have to sell it at a certain price, which was very close to the market price. Everywhere in the world, targeting has proved to be the thin edge of the wedge and the end result has invariably been destruction of the public distribution system,” he said.

Prof. Patnaik said the measure would have grave consequences because what the Centre considered to be the BPL category was a gross underestimation of the really needy.

“In effect, they are forcing us to wind up our public distribution system. The saddest aspect of the decision is that it has come in the midst of 12 per cent inflation, which is massive,” Prof. Patnaik said.

He said it was absurd to talk about Kerala being able to meet its food grain needs on its own or supplying surplus grains to the Central pool, as the State had been perennially food deficit on account of its emphasis on cash crop cultivation.

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