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| SC tells J&K to exhaust available quota of ration immediately | | Revise norms of distribution' | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Jun 3: Supreme Court of India (SCI) has asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to forthwith exhaust existing quantity of food grains allocated to them.
Court has directed the Chief Secretary to ensure that quantity of food grains allocated to Jammu and Kashmir are lifted and distributed immediately. A copy of this order has been sent to the state government and if the sources are to be believed, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department has been directed to comply with the court directions without any further delay.
Court has also directed officials of Jammu and Kashmir government to appear before Justice Wadhwa Committee. Committee has been asked to submit summary report on or before July 22, 2011. Justice D.P. Wadhwa (retd.) is the chairman of Central Vigilance Committee (CVC) on public distribution system (PDS). Committee visited almost all districts of country and submitted about 19 comprehensive and detailed reports.
High Power Committee consists of number of experts and representatives of the several social organizations. Court has asked this committee to identify the poorest districts or poorest segments of our society in Jammu and Kashmir and ensure that additionally allocated food grains reach this segment from time to time. 5 million tonnes of food grains additionally allocated would be distributed to the poorest districts or pockets in Jammu and Kashmir where people are living in penury.
Court has ordered that the committee may do the exercise may in consultation with the representatives of the government of India and the associated NGOs. It has said that committee would be at liberty to co-opt any individual or organization to assist them and it may in consultation with the state government also decide at what subsidized rate and to whom the food grains should be allocated.
Court gave these directions after hearing Gopal Subramanium, Solicitor General of India, Mohan Parasaran, Additional Solicitor General, Gonsalves, senior counsel for the petitioner and other learned counsel for the respective parties. It needs to be mentioned here that court gave these directions in the wake of reports of millions of tonnes of food grains lying in open for years because of inadequate storage capacity.
It also took strong notice of the fact that about fifty five thousand of tonnes of food grains rotted in Punjab and Haryana while a very large chunk of food grains were destroyed in Punjab fire because the food grains were lying in open. Alongside passing directions for the state governments including Jammu and Kashmir, court ordered central government to reserve 5 million tonnes of food grains for distribution to 150 poorest districts or the extremely poor and vulnerable sections of our society.
It asserted that this additional 5 million tonnes of food grains would be over and above 5 million tonnes which the Union of India has already undertaken to allocate. Court also took to task the public distribution system (PDS) and observed that it does not see any rationale in not distributing food grains according to the estimate of Union of India.
Court said that food allocation should be based on every year's population estimate as carried out by planning commission or the Registrar General, in the absence of any official census figure. According to the parameters of the Planning Commission, Rs.15 per capita per day in rural areas and Rs.20 in urban areas is the yardstick for evaluating who is Below Poverty Line.
Below Poverty Line population is anchored on a norm of 2400 calories per capita per day for rural areas and 2100 calories per capita per day for urban areas. According to Tendulkar Committee, with the price level of 2011, it is impossible for an individual in urban area to consume 2100 calories in Rs.20 and an individual in rural area to consume 2400 calories in Rs.15. Planning Commission has also been asked to revise norms of per capita amount looking at price index of May, 2011 or other subsequent dates. |
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