Public distribution among tribal household in Karnataka and Telangana
- Man & Development
- 42(1), Mar, 2020: p.35-50
National food security act (NFSA) was notified on September, 10, 2013. The Act provides for the coverage of up to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population for distributing subsidized food grains under targeted Public distribution system (TPDS). The eligible persons will be entitled to receive 5 kilograms ( kg) of food grain per person per month at subsidized prices of 3/2/1 per kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains respectively. The existing antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, will continue to receive 35 kilogram (kg) of food grains per household per month. This study enquires the performance of public distribution system (PDS) under NFSA among the tribal households in the Khammam district of Telangana and Raichur district of Karnatak. The tribal priority and Antyodaya ( poorest of the poor) households obtained around the entire quantity of entitled food grains following the implementation of NFSA. Leakages and diversions of PDS foods grains declined substantially following the implementation of NFSA. The food grain consumption of beneficiary households increased substantially following the off take PDS food grains. PDS in India continues to be panacea for ensuring essential food grains at affordable prices to the poor and the vulnerable sections of the population which spend a bulk of consumption expenditure on purchasing food grains. Apart from that, it stabilises open market prices of food grains and ensures reasonable remunerative prices to the famers. The 68th national sample survey organization (NSSO) data collected in 2011-12 reaffirms the wide inequality between the rural poor and the urban upper classes in terms of expenditure. The lowest 10 per of the rural population in the country is estimated to have spend only Rs. 16-78 per capita per day, whereas the corresponding figure among.- Reproduced