Ranchi: After Puducherry and Chandigarh, the scheme of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in Public Distribution System PDS ) has failed in Nagri block in Ranchi district. The Centre has recalled the scheme and the Jharkhand government also announced its discontinuation on Wednesday.Efforts were made the BJP-ruled central and state governments to introduce DBT, thereby providing food subsidy in form of cash, into the accounts of the beneficiary in one block of Jharkhand and study the results. The scheme was launched in October 2017 and was supposed to be reviewed within a period of six months. Despite adverse findings and hardships faced by the beneficiaries, the scheme continued, finally being recalled after ten months.DBT in PDS changed the way people got access to subsidised food. Earlier, all people had to do was visit the ration shop and buy rice for Rs 1 per kg. But with the government transferring the subsidy into their bank accounts, the process became tedious. A person had to visit the bank to check if the subsidy amount has been transferred to their accounts. They then need to withdraw the money — most banks do not entertain request to withdraw small amounts of money, and in such cases they need to visit the nearest Pragya Kendra for withdrawal — before buying rice at the market price of about Rs 30 a kg from the designated PDS shop. It was only when they took their allotment for a particular month, the subsidy was transferred to their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts the next month.In a letter to the Jharkhand government, B K Hembrom, undersecretary (department of consumer affairs, food and public distribution), said: “On the subject of withdrawal of DBT in targeted PDS on ‘Pahal’ model in Nagri block of Ranchi district, the proposal was examined and after considering the problems being faced by the state government in implementation of the pilot project, the department, with approval of minister of consumer affairs and public distribution, has decided to accept the request of the state government for withdrawal of the pilot project.”Soon after receiving the letter on Monday, the state government also issued a letter to this effect. Welcoming the decision, former member of National Advisory Council and noted economist Jean Dreze said that Right to Food Campaign Jharkhand welcomes the state government’s decision to discontinue the experiment. “It is unfortunate, however, that it took almost a year of popular protests for the government to arrive at this decision,” he said“In February 2018, a field survey found that 97% of respondents in Nagri were opposed to DBT. Thousands of people walked from Nagri to the Governor’s House in Ranchi on 26 February to demand the reinstatement of the old public distribution system (PDS). In April, the state government’s own social audit confirmed the results of the February survey,” Dreze said.State convener RTF campaign, Asharfi Nand Prasad said that failure of DBT experiment in Nagri would save poor and needy people of the country from facing hardships in getting subsidised food grain from PDS shops. “We are happy that the state government realised the problem and appealed to the Centre to withdraw the scheme otherwise universalisation of the model would have pushed thousands of people in the country to hunger death,” he said.

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