Chamar Residents of Rasulpur Allege PDS Malpractice abc

SIWAN: “We pay more, yet we don’t get our due ration entitlements. The supply also comes late” say residents of Rasulpur in Siwan district, Bihar.

People here are exploited because of their caste, says Tiljhiri Kuanwar, 55. Most ration card holders in the village belong to the Chamar community, a Schedule Caste.

“According to government guidelines we should get 5 kg of wheat and rice per head in every family, but our distributor at the PDB [Public Distribution Booth] gives us only 4 kg per head,” says Kuanwar.

The Bihar government claims it has been providing 5 kilos of rice and a kilo of dal to each of the 1.68 crore ration cardholders in the state.

It also claims to have transferred Rs 1,000 to the Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of about 90 lakh ration cardholders since the pandemic.

Ranglal Manjhi, 62, said the PDS distributor Ramesh Singh when asked about the short supply said he kept one kilo as his share of the entitlements due to every member of a family.

Under the National Food Security Act a PDS ration card entitles you to 2 kg wheat and 3 kg rice for Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kilo respectively, per family member.