terror in J&K

July 20, 2005

           Ration for poor passed on to terrorists 

                                                                         S.P. Sharma

                                                               Tribune News Service 

 

Jammu, July 19

With fudged figures of the number of families below poverty line (BPL) in Jammu and Kashmir, a large quantity of ration meant for them is being passed on to terrorists particularly in border districts.

 

No actual survey appears to have been made to ascertain the number of BPL families and different departments were making conflicting claims. The Planning Commission of India has also taken serious view of the fudged figures that have been prepared by different departments.

 

During recent raids on terrorist hideouts, particularly in Doda, Poonch and Rajouri districts, the security forces recovered a huge quantity of ration. The ration was reportedly supplied by the FCI to the BPL families in the far-flung areas.

 

During Operation Sarapvinash in the Hill Kaka area of Poonch, the Army recovered more than 2,000 quintals of ration from various hideouts of terrorists.

 

There were allegations that not only officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department but also the transport mafia responsible for siphoning off the government ration.

 

The vigilance department has registered a case in which ration worth more than Rs 40 crore meant for the Antoyadaya and BPL families in the Marwah block of Doda district was misused. Against the nearly 20,000 population of the block, the authorities were drawing ration for a population of about 56,000 every month.

 

The same was the case with most of the kerosene depots that were thriving on illicit trade.

 

One of the data complied by the state government claimed that there were 7.86 lakh BPL families in the state. Another document claimed that 57 per cent of the households were BPL. Another department put the figure at 3.98 per cent.

 

Piqued over these figures, the planning commission has pointed out that how can one reconcile 57 per cent on one hand and 3.98 per cent on the other? "It seems that none of them is correct".

 

According to yet another figure released recently by a minister, the number of BPL families in the state was 6,04,369. Interestingly, within a couple of days another minister put the figure at 7.36 lakh.

 

The commission observed that it would be futile to continue pumping money into the state for poverty alleviation programmes without having a realistic estimation of poverty in the state.

 

It observed that a modest attempt at analysing the implementation of various rural development programmes provided a "very sad" picture in terms of accountability and fund utilisation.

 

It said a disturbing feature of rural development interventions in the state was the implementation mechanism adopted for the major poverty alleviation programmes and schemes.

 

"It seems that instead of helping rural poor to come out of the poverty trap, these interventions have further drifted them into it. The amount of money pumped into various development programmes should have resulted in complete rural poverty."