'DNA' exclusive: 'Maharashtra's ration cards digitisation project a hoax'

When it comes to feeding the poorest of the poor, the Maharashtra government is in a class of its own. A damning report of the central vigilance committee set up by the Supreme Court (SC) says that the pilot project of digitising ration cards in Satara district of western Maharashtra is in shambles, with not even 2% of the 85,000 ration cards digitised, and nearly no verification done.

These ration cards cater to those below the poverty line and other marginalised communities who depend on subsidised food grains for subsistence. As part of the pilot project, Maharashtra had to digitise existing ration card details in three districts of the state of which Satara is one.

This is part of an effort that began with a series of orders from the SC in the landmark right to food case to prevent leakages in the public distribution system (PDS). The funds were from the central government but the state government could not even get the project off the ground.

When members of the justice Wadhwa committee visited Satara last month, they discovered that the ground reality painted a dismal picture of the entire project against the tall claims of the state machinery. In its report to the SC, the committee observed that the progress of computerisation was “extremely slow and almost non-existent”.

The committee, in its report, a copy of which is with DNA, noted: “The committee visited the data centre where digitisation of data was being carried out. The data entry operators had been engaged a day earlier. They were uploading data from forms which had not been verified by any authority but bore the seal of the verifying authority.”

In Satara, 85,658 ration cards have been issued, of which details of 1,122 ration cards were uploaded in the software, the report said. It noted that data digitisation is being done on the basis of forms “supposedly filled” by the beneficiaries. But a closer examination revealed that “forms had been filled by the fair price shop (FPS)
dealers after collecting the existing ration cards from the beneficiaries”.

There was no checking by any authority. No door-to-door survey was conducted to check details, the report observed. When the committee visited a FPS dealer, it found around 500 ration cards in his possession along with and pre-stamped forms on which basis digitisation was being done.

“It means the FPS dealer himself filled the pre-stamp forms which had been verified by the authority in advance,” said the committee in its report while noting that it also found at that shop “blank ration cards bearing the seal of the issuing authority”.

Committee members also visited the state civil supplies godown at Satara where they were informed by the godown manager that SMSes are sent to registered persons when the shopkeepers lift the food grain from the godown. But the committee in its report observed that “SMSes were rarely sent”.

“In January 2012, SMS was sent only once. Similarly, for other months, the officials at the godown could not show any record of SMS sent to the registered persons,” the report said.

The justice Wadhwa committee in its report also detailed a number of technical problems it found in the “Common Application Software” which is being used in the project.