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CAG audit report raises serious questions over implementation of NFS Act
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Wednesday, 04 May, 2016, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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fiogf49gjkf0d fiogf49gjkf0d The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has raised serious questions on the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in its audit report presented recently in Parliament.
The report has not only viewed critically the implementation of the Act, but has pinpointed lacunae in identification of beneficiaries, logistics, storage and computerisation of targeted public distribution system or TPDS.
Interestingly, while the CAG has questioned the preparedness of the states, the ministry of food, public distribution and consumer affairs maintains that all the states will be implementing the scheme by July.
According to the report, two-and-a-half years since NFSA came into force in July 2013, only 18 states or Union territories reported to have started implementation of NFSA. The report throws light on the situation till October 2015.
It adds, “In many states, though the identification of beneficiaries was not fully completed, ministry (of food and public distribution) allotted them the revised allocation of food grains. As many of the states had not reported status of their preparedness, the ministry extended the timeline for implementation of NFSA thrice (till October 2015).”
The report raised concerns over procedures for identifying the beneficiaries under the Act. It states, “The identification of beneficiaries was not carried out in a systematic and scientific manner in any of the test checked states. Some states merely re-stamped their old ration cards as NFSA-compliant and that too without providing for women empowerment as laid down in NFSA.”
It pointed out that identification of beneficiaries was a critical milestone to be achieved in order to omit the errors of inclusion and exclusion. However, what had effectively been adopted in the states was the old system, rechristened for projecting as NFSA-compliant. “Resultantly, the states had failed to prepare themselves towards fulfilment of the objective of the NFSA to provide food security to all the needy,” observes the report.
Not only beneficiaries but on the logistics front as well, the CAG report puts the ministry in the dock. According to it, the states were largely unprepared for handling the logistics of allocation, movement and storage of food grains which was necessary for efficient and successful implementation of NFSA.
It states, “The ministry did not make any preparation with regard to removal of bottlenecks in the movement of food grains as it could not ensure preparation and finalisation of the National Foodgrains Movement Plan. Further, the storage capacity with the FCI was insufficient considering the increased allocation for several states/UTs. The storage capacity was not adequate even for three months requirement of food grains in the test-checked states. The condition of existing storage capacities with the states also needed upgradation and improvement.”
The report comments on computerisation of TPDS operations saying that cases of unavailability of required computer application and hardware have been limiting factors in some of the selected states and UTs. Digitised data of beneficiaries was not uploaded on the states portal. Doorstep delivery of food grains was found to be implemented in Uttar Pradesh only on pilot basis. In Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, doorstep delivery was being done by FPS dealers themselves and not by state governments.
“The grievance redressal system was constituted in most of the states, albeit not till the last tier. Though, six out of nine selected states/UTs were found to have put in place the grievance redressal mechanism, these were not fully functional. Vigilance committees were found to be constituted only at few districts/blocks in the selected states/UTs. Further, due to non-availability of information on grievance redressal mechanism and vigilance committees, the ministry was not in a position to monitor the implementation of the same in all the states/UTs. Monitoring done by the states was not found to be satisfactory as either there were no inspections or less than targeted inspections,” states the report.
However, recently the ministry of food, public distribution and consumer affairs has put out a statement with regards to the implementation of the NFS Act.
According to the statement, “Presently as on April 2016, 33 states/UTs are implementing NFSA and subsidised food grains are being provided to 72.45 crore beneficiaries (approximately. 14.8 crore households). This is a big change from only 11 states/UTs, which started implementation of NFSA by March 2014. The remaining states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland are also in an advanced stage of preparation. Tamil Nadu and Kerala are presently in election mode and a decision to implement NFSA will be possible only after the elections are over; the state of Nagaland is expected to start implementation of NFSA from July 2016.”
Further, the ministry has put out the figures till date about the implementation of various aspects of the NFS Act. According to the ministry on transparency and computerisation
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Component
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No.
of States/UTs (As on April, 2016)
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Digitisation
of 100% NFSA ration
cards
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36
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Ration
card
details available on PDS portal
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36
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Online
allocation of food
grains
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25
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Computerisation
of supply chain of food
grains
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12
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Online
grievance redressal facility
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27
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Toll-free
number
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35
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Designation
of District Grievance Redressal Officer
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32
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Constitution/designation
of State Food Commission
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30*
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Talking about the storage capacity, the ministry stated that the total storage capacity available with FCI & state agencies as on April 01, 2016, is 814.84 lakh MT (FCI – 357.89 LMT & state agencies – 456.95 LMT), which is sufficient as compared to the peak requirement during procurement season is around 600 lakh MT.
For augmentation of covered storage capacity in the country, new godown capacity of 133.47 LMT has been created in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode under Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) scheme at various locations in 20 states. In addition, new godowns are being constructed using Plan funds with focus on the North-Eastern states. During the current 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), a capacity of 1,33,700 MT has been added.
The government has also approved a roadmap for Food Corporation of India (FCI) for construction of modern storage facilities in the form of steel silos over the next four years in PPP mode. Letter of Award has been issued for total 2.5 LMT capacity silos in 6 locations recently. Silos of capacity 4.5 LMT have been created through states, according to the ministry.
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