Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

PDS panel’s visit crucial

Thiruvananthapuram: The three-day visit of the Central Vigilance Committee on Public Distribution System (PDS), appointed by the Supreme Court, is likely to be crucial for Kerala, which is struggling to retain its unique universal rationing system.

The committee, headed by the former Supreme Court judge D.P. Wadhwa, is scheduled to arrive in the State capital on Saturday and will hold public hearings there and in Kochi and Kozhikode.

The committee will hold discussions with the Civil Supplies Department officials. It has invited views from ration shop dealers, wholesalers, transporters, non-governmental and civil society organisations and the public about the status of the public distribution system in the State and the performance of the Civil Supplies Department, the Food Corporation of India and the ration shops.

After being appointed in 2008 to study the functioning of the PDS in the country, the committee has visited several States, besides presenting reports on the system in States such as Jharkhand and Bihar. The committee was first appointed to study the PDS in Delhi, but later, the court enlarged its scope to cover the entire country.

The committee’s visit to Kerala assumes importance because the State has a unique rationing system. Kerala is a food-deficit State and the universal rationing system has been in vogue since the early 1960s. Of late, the emphasis of the system has changed with categorisation of beneficiaries as BPL (Below the Poverty Line) and APL (Above the Poverty Line). The differential rates at which ration goods are available have virtually undermined the universal rationing system, which has played a stellar role in controlling prices of foodgrains. Kerala has been complaining about the steep reduction in ration quota. The percentage of BPL families is also a matter of dispute.

According to sources, the committee has favoured doing away with the APL category, besides making the targeted PDS for the BPL families focussed. Kerala, it is pointed out, will have to make a strong case for preferential treatment given its unique system. With the country all set to pass the National Food Security Act, it has become all the more important for the State to present its case effectively before the committee as its report before the Supreme Court can even have the status of a judicial review.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Engagements - Tiruvananthapuram
New team for Munnar
PDS panel’s visit crucial
Bank staff dharna
Kerafed plans two mega projects
New building for DPC
SMS auction for mobile vanity numbers
Two arrested
Doctors to protest against rural medical course
Birth certificates’ issue date to be extended
Medical ties with the Dutch
Stage set for Kalanilayam’s comeback act
Moot court contest begins

Copyright © 2010, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu