Sreelatha Menon: A right to identity Act?
For the urban poor, state assistance is as elusive as having a proof of residence
For the urban poor, state assistance is as elusive as having a proof of residence
Sreelatha Menon / New Delhi October 02, 2011, 0:46 IS
Many are agonising over why those who earn more than Rs 32 a day are not being considered poor.
But, for the last 60 years, even among the 400 million people who earn less than Rs 32 a day, how many have actually received any state assistance? Around 110 million ration cards have been given so far under this category, but the procedure is such that the really poor and illiterate can never get these made.
But, for the last 60 years, even among the 400 million people who earn less than Rs 32 a day, how many have actually received any state assistance? Around 110 million ration cards have been given so far under this category, but the procedure is such that the really poor and illiterate can never get these made.
The foremost hurdle in getting a ration card made is a proof of residence. This is next to impossible if the person is living in an urban slum. N C Saxena says the problem can be resolved if the government is proactive and reaches out to homes, ensuring people get subsidised food cards. One might as well imagine or wish for ATMs where people can draw food grains, with the touch of a thumb (maybe once the UID kicks in)!
The futility of the debate lies in the fact that every other person in a given urban village or slum, such as the suburbs of Delhi, turns out to be living without any state assistance.
For them, it would not even matter if the state was to cease the public distribution system (PDS) or continue with it.
Asad has been living with his family of four in Makanpur, a filthy urban village on the outskirts of Ghaziabad, for the last three-four years. He has rented a room and a rickshaw and earns about Rs 200 a day. He neither owns a ration card nor does he know how to get one. His parents and siblings, who live in a Bareilly village, never had a ration card, too!
So, ration cards are in the realm of the impossible for Asad, and for a generation before him.
But Asad is not alone. Thousands of migrants from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar ply rickshaws in Faridabad and Ghaziabad on the borders of Delhi. They live with their families. Often, the wives and mothers work as domestic servants in the nearby households. They all buy food grains from the open market.
Asad’s family of four lives on Rs 50 a day and sometimes Rs 30 a day. And, they don’t get any state assistance. So, what does the figure of Rs 32, as suggested by the Planning Commission, mean if there is no intention of providing any assistance to the poorest of the poor.
Reetika Khera who has been a part of a study that found PDS working in some states much better than in the past, and believes food assistance should be universal, attributes the difficulty in getting cards to strict state norms — thanks to limits set by the Centre on the number of ration cards that can be given to BPL (below poverty line) families. “If those caps were to go, norms may be relaxed,” she says.
There are people among these unlettered migrants who have actually tried to get a ration card. But the main hurdle again is a lack of an address proof. They live in rented rooms and their landlords refuse to give them any document as a proof of residence. So, the most needy among the city dwellers seldom get any state assistance by way of food grains at least.
The minds which make policies in the government can surely think of a way by which minimum food assistance can be provided to those who don’t have any identity, except that of their livelihoods: rickshaw pullers, domestic workers and hawkers. The lack of an address proof or identity proof has prevented children from getting admission in schools, too. Both education and food security have made their way to becoming fundamental rights. May be, it is more fundamental to have a right to a proof of identity now. What about a right to identity Act!
The futility of the debate lies in the fact that every other person in a given urban village or slum, such as the suburbs of Delhi, turns out to be living without any state assistance.
For them, it would not even matter if the state was to cease the public distribution system (PDS) or continue with it.
Asad has been living with his family of four in Makanpur, a filthy urban village on the outskirts of Ghaziabad, for the last three-four years. He has rented a room and a rickshaw and earns about Rs 200 a day. He neither owns a ration card nor does he know how to get one. His parents and siblings, who live in a Bareilly village, never had a ration card, too!
So, ration cards are in the realm of the impossible for Asad, and for a generation before him.
But Asad is not alone. Thousands of migrants from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar ply rickshaws in Faridabad and Ghaziabad on the borders of Delhi. They live with their families. Often, the wives and mothers work as domestic servants in the nearby households. They all buy food grains from the open market.
Asad’s family of four lives on Rs 50 a day and sometimes Rs 30 a day. And, they don’t get any state assistance. So, what does the figure of Rs 32, as suggested by the Planning Commission, mean if there is no intention of providing any assistance to the poorest of the poor.
Reetika Khera who has been a part of a study that found PDS working in some states much better than in the past, and believes food assistance should be universal, attributes the difficulty in getting cards to strict state norms — thanks to limits set by the Centre on the number of ration cards that can be given to BPL (below poverty line) families. “If those caps were to go, norms may be relaxed,” she says.
There are people among these unlettered migrants who have actually tried to get a ration card. But the main hurdle again is a lack of an address proof. They live in rented rooms and their landlords refuse to give them any document as a proof of residence. So, the most needy among the city dwellers seldom get any state assistance by way of food grains at least.
The minds which make policies in the government can surely think of a way by which minimum food assistance can be provided to those who don’t have any identity, except that of their livelihoods: rickshaw pullers, domestic workers and hawkers. The lack of an address proof or identity proof has prevented children from getting admission in schools, too. Both education and food security have made their way to becoming fundamental rights. May be, it is more fundamental to have a right to a proof of identity now. What about a right to identity Act!