Execution of Food Security Act a challenge for Rajasthan government

To score brownie points with voters, the state government might have announced to implement the Food Security Act in Rajasthan from October 2 but it still has challenges to overcome.

Though CM Ashok Gehlot made it clear the implementation of the Act would be symbolic, creating parallel infrastructure to ensure the smooth implementation is a lengthy process.

Lack of warehouses to store the foodgrains is a major hurdle in the state. Present requirement of grains under various government schemes is 1.80 lakh metric tonnes. In the rainy season, a huge quantity of the grain is lost every year to lack of storage facility. Once the Act is implemented, the government will have to arrange for the storage facility for around 2.32 lakh metric tonnes of grains, which is indeed a distant dream.

After conducting an extensive survey, as many as 4.6 crore people have been identified as actual beneficiaries of the Act. Despite this lengthy exercise, duplication of names is a problem in the entire process. The chief minister also accepted it while announcing the implementation on Saturday.

“Duplication of names is certainly a problem. But we will soon computerised the entire process, including listing of the beneficiaries, and the problem will be addressed at that time,” said Gehlot.

Further, the present public distribution system (PDS) shops are also not in a position to bear the extra load of the Act.

Though the government has assured to open 2,000 more PDS shops, the storage of grains at the shops will again be a big problem. Most shops are so small that they cannot even accommodate the present supply.

Earlier, three of the district collectors had raised the issue stating ensuring a smooth supply chain will be a Herculean task for the state government unless the arrangements are not ensured in advance.

Besides, the recruitment of the staff and computerisation of the entire supply and distribution process will again be a time-consuming process.