'Assam rationing system has collapsed'

By Our Special Correspondent

GUWAHATI, OCT. 7. The rationing system in Assam has totally collapsed, and with most shops in the rural areas being shut down, food insecurity has increased, Ms. Brinda Karat, general secretary of the All-India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA), has said.

At the end of the three-day session of the Assam unit of the organisation today, she charged that the State Government had not been able to draw up the below-poverty-line (BPL) list.

Urging the State Government to strengthen the public distribution system, she said the AIDWA members would soon undertake a month- long house-to-house survey for listing poor people excluded from the purview of the PDS. The findings would be presented to the State Government.

The eligibility criteria for the BPL should be reviewed on the basis of monthly income, family size and landholding.

On the condition of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, where many poor peasants had committed suicide in Anantapur district, she said it was a disgrace that the Government was not distributing foodstocks while the FCI was holding seven to eight year-old stocks which had become unfit not only for human consumption and also for cattle.

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Section  : Other States
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