The Fallacy of Technology Centric Solutions - PDS and DBT
iasparliament
January 17, 2018
What is the issue?
Various new governance tools introduced are derailing India’s public distribution system (PDS) in several States across the country.
Notably, disruptions caused due to compulsory “Biometric Authentication” and “Direct Benefits Transfer” (DBT) is hurting millions.
What is Jharkhand’s case?
While Jharkhand’s PDS has drastically improved over the past decade, its move to make Aadhaar authentication compulsory has proved disastrous.
A large numbers of people, especially among vulnerable groups such as widows and the elderly, found themselves excluded from the PDS.
Even those who managed to buy rations faced considerable inconvenience due to connectivity and biometric failures.
Notably, there was also a revival of corruption, as PDS rice meant for those who failed the biometric test was siphoned off.
Card Cancellation – Last year, Jharkhand mass-cancelled 11 lakh ration cards that weren’t linked to Aadhaar by labelling them “fake”.
As this was without verification, the action was inhuman and illegal and expectedly didn’t stand scrutiny, and was in fact retracted later.
Many cancelled cards actually belonged to families that had been unable to link their card with Aadhaar for no fault of their own.
Despite this, Jharkhand continues to aggressively push Aadhar and has even restricted the monthly ration of 5 kg rice per person to only those individuals who’ve liked their Aadhars to the ration database.
UIDAI is participating in the crusade to make Aadhaar-based biometric authentication compulsory in various contexts.
Direct Benefits Transfer - Under DBT, people have to collect their food subsidy in cash from the bank before using it to buy rice from the ration shop.
While until now, rice at the ration shop cost Rs.1 per kg, with DBT it will cost Rs.32, the reminder is what will be compensated for.
While a DBT pilot is on in Ranchi District, the State government already seems convinced of its success and is planning to extend it elsewhere.
The ground realities have been completely ignored as it is easily perceptible that the pilot is a clear disaster, with public anger mounting against DBT.
The problem - People waste enormous time shuttling between the banks, pragya kendras (banks insist on withdrawing cash here) and ration shops.
At every step, there are long queues, and for many people, accessibility is also an issue, due to the location of the entity, their age or disability.
The initial adaptation in particular is tiresome as there is no clarity on which bank account of a family gets selected for the DBT.
DBT might work better if people had some cash reserves, but so many people in rural Jharkhand have so little cash.
What is the larger trend?
While Jharkhand is among the worst cases of Aadhar and DBT driven destabilisation of the PDS, similar trends are noticed in other States too.
Bihar, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have all seen their PDS networks come under dire strain in the pilot blocks.
Notably, many senior officers in the food department oppose this technological push privately but have no choice but to follow instructions from the top.
There is considerably push by the union government, which is indicative of growing centralisation and technocracy in India’s social sector.
The most disturbing aspect of this trend is a lack of concern for the hardships that people face in situations.
There isn’t even an effective arrangement for grievance redressed or information sharing.
