New Delhi: Just two days after the Supreme Court, while ruling on the turf war between the Centre and the elected government in Delhi, declared that “the power given to LG under Article 239AA(4) contains the rule of exception and should not be treated as a general norm” and that the LG “has the authority to dissent, but it cannot be exercised in a routine manner”, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced his decision to go ahead with the doorstep ration delivery scheme. However, the move has been criticised by food rights activists who claim that it would only lead to logistical problems and greater denial of rations.Food rights activists have also accused the Kejriwal government of indulging in the optics of the move as despite a high court order and four years having passed since the implementation of the National Food Security Act in Delhi, it has still not put in place rules to operationalise the Act which requires the state government to constitute a State Food Commission, undertake periodic social audits of functioning of ration shops and make rules for grievance redressal.Incidentally, the scheme had been approved by the Delhi cabinet on March 6 this year but had been rejected by LG Anil Baijal later the same month. This proposal had also become a bone of contention between the elected Aam Aadmi Party government and the LG. Kejriwal and three of his ministers also put up a nine-day dharna at Raj Niwas to push for getting this scheme approved while also demanding that the IAS officer’s undeclared strike in the city be brought to an end.Kejriwal overrules all objections, directs department to implement schemeBuoyed by the apex court’s ruling, which had specified that while the LG “has to be apprised of every decision taken by the council of ministers, but he cannot change the decision” and that “there is no provision for consent”, Kejriwal today declared that he had overruled all objections to the proposal and directed immediate implementation of the scheme.Approved Doorstep Delivery of Rations. Over ruled all objections to the proposal. Directed Food Dept to start its implementation immediately.— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 6, 2018Cabinet had approved scheme to provide rations with “maximum ease”When the scheme had been approved by the Delhi Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Kejriwal, it was stated the proposal for home delivery or doorstep delivery of rations under the targeted Public Distribution System (PDS) was approved for all 19.5 lakh ration cards in Delhi that covered a total of 72 lakh beneficiaries.Approving the Department of Food, Supply and Consumer Affairs’ proposal for providing doorstep delivery of wheat or flour, rice and sugar, under the National Food Security Act 2013, the Kejriwal government had stated that the decision has been taken as it was committed to ensure that “eligible beneficiaries receive their due ration in a transparent manner with maximum ease”.‘Ration beneficiaries were facing unforeseen trouble’In a note, the Delhi government had said that “Aadhaar based identification of ration holders was one such reform, which has faced teething problems resulting in ration beneficiaries facing unforeseen trouble. Given this experience, doorstep delivery of ration is aimed at removing the problems faced by ration beneficiaries”.The cabinet had also noted that the laws, rules and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had urged the state governments to ensure home delivery of ration to the beneficiaries experiencing difficulty in getting their entitled quantum of subsidised foodgrain due to old age, physical disability etc.‘Open bidding for selecting service provider’The Kejriwal government had said that the proposal was aimed at providing a higher level of transparency in delivery system through an inbuilt online monitoring system which will weed out corruption and diversion of food grains. “It will save time and resources of ration beneficiaries of Delhi.”The Delhi government had also noted that “the service provider for home delivery of ration will be selected in a transparent manner through open bidding”.Baijal had refused consentThe cabinet had then sent the approved proposal to Baijal for his nod. However, the Lieutenant Governor had stalled the moved and asked the Kejriwal government to refer the proposal to the Centre even as the CM insisted that no such reference was required according to law.While not acting on the proposal, Baijal had also asked the Kejriwal government to reconsider stalling the e-PoS (Point of Sale) system at fair price shops.“Use of e-PoS devices facilitates portability i.e. the beneficiaries can choose to lift ration from any FPS of his/ her choice. This promotes competition and empowers the beneficiaries/consumers. L-G advises that the decision to suspend the operation of e-PoS devices be reconsidered,” a statement issued by his office had stated. The elected government had then accused Baijal of “killing” the “landmark” scheme for the poor.With the backing of the Supreme Court order, Kejriwal may now be in a position to launch the doorstep delivery of ration scheme but the move has been criticised by food rights activists.‘Doorstep delivery scheme not practical or desirable, meant for exceptional cases only’Well known activist Jean Dreze of the Right to Food Campaign (Jharkhand) said “in the context of the Public Distribution System (and in the National Food Security Act), the term “doorstep delivery” generally refers to bulk delivery to PDS shops, not home delivery to PDS beneficiaries. Home delivery, in general, is neither practical nor desirable.”He called for removing biometric authentication from the system instead, saying that would ease the delivery process. “If biometric authentication is removed, as it should, the problem of old people not being able to go in person to the ration shop will be solved – they will be able to ask a neighbour or relative to go on their behalf (as they used to do before biometric authentication).”Dreze also noted that doorstep delivery of rations should only be undertaken as an emergency measure and should not be made a general practice. “At best, doorstep delivery to a person’s home should be an emergency measure in exceptional cases (e.g. possible starvation), in areas where biometric authentication applies. It is important to avoid creating chaos in the PDS by making home delivery a general practice, as the Delhi government seems to be considering.”‘Complete lack of transparency on doorstep delivery of ration scheme’Meanwhile, the Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan (DRRAA), which has been working for the rights of citizens to access PDS rations, has criticised the proposal of Delhi government on doorstep delivery of ration for the “complete lack of transparency”.Food rights activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri, Koninka Ray, Anwar Haque, Rajender Kumar, Aditi Diwedi and Ayesha said in stated thatno details of the scheme in terms of the oversight mechanism, transparency and accountability safeguards, or the infrastructure and human resources arrangements, have been made available.“It is not clear whether the government will undertake the home delivery or if it will be outsourced to private companies. Further, there has been no public consultation on the proposal, which is a violation of the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy of 2014. To our knowledge, the government has not undertaken any pilot or testing of the said proposal,” the statement said.Bharadwaj also quipped that it was strange for the Aam Aadmi Party, which was formed on the premise of promoting transparency through public discussion, to not hold any consultations with the beneficiaries on such an important issue. The activists urged the Delhi government not to implement the proposal of home delivery of ration in a hasty manner without holding any pilot or any public consultations on the issue.They also flagged several concerns about the proposal.“First, in the current scenario, where there is poor oversight and monitoring of 2,500 ration shops in Delhi, it is unclear how the administration will carry out oversight of large number of delivery persons, which will be many times more than the 2,500 ration shops,” they asked. Bharadwaj wondered how when the government was unable to regulate 2500 shops, it would be able to effectively monitor the nearly 25,000 delivery persons.‘Doorstep delivery will reduce transparency, increase corruption’The activists also cautioned that “delivery at individual homes may reduce transparency and increase corruption.” In this regard, they pointed out that distribution of grain in a public place reduces the chances of cheating.Another area of concern, they said, pertained to media reports and statements by officials suggesting that the delivery persons will be equipped with Aadhaar-enabled Point of Sale devices which will be required during delivery. Here the activists warned that “re-introducing Aadhaar in delivery of ration will again create problems of exclusions and denial of grains to eligible persons.”The statement by the Abhiyan also pointed out that “home delivery of rations is neither practical nor desirable”. It said “most ration beneficiaries are daily wagers and therefore they may not be available at home to take delivery of ration. Also, this proposal will take away the freedom of people to purchase ration as per availability of funds with them.”‘Delhi one of few states that are still to draft rules to operationalise NFSA’The Abhiyan also pointed to the fact that the Delhi government has not put in place rules to operationalise the statutory provisions of NFSA related to transparency and accountability.“The NFSA requires state governments to constitute a State Food Commission, undertake periodic social audits of functioning of ration shops, make rules for grievance redress. However, till date, despite orders from the Delhi High Court (attached), the government has not taken action on these issues. Delhi is one of the few states in the country which has not promulgated rules for grievance redress under the NFSA. No independent State Food Commission is functional in Delhi and information received under the RTI Act shows that no social audits have been undertaken,” it said.The Abhiyan urged the Delhi government to immediately promulgate rules to put in place the statutory framework for grievance redress and accountability. “Further, in order to improve food security, the state government should put in funds to increase coverage of the population in Delhi under PDS (as scores of deserving and vulnerable households have been left out due to quotas) and enhancement of entitlements by including pulses and oil in PDS,” it demanded.The food rights activists said disruptions in the PDS cause extreme hardship and exacerbate vulnerabilities of marginalised households. They recalled how earlier this year, the Delhi government had made Aadhaar based authentication through Point of Sale devices mandatory for all ration shops. “This had led to large exclusion of the poorest and marginalised families from their right to food. Government figures showed that nearly 4 lakh cardholders were unable to access their rations,” they said, adding that in light of the large scale exclusions and problems, the Delhi government had admitted to the problems of exclusions and rolled back the initiative.