Food procurement has plummeted by almost eight million tones in 1995-96. However, offtake from the public distribution system is still no more than 14-15 million tones, Why is the offtake so low despite the expansion of the system to new steep hike in issue prices in February 1994 greatly reduced the difference between open market prices and the ration shop price. which meant several poor people could not afford to buy as much and also that richer people shifted to superior quality grain in the open market. However, the issue price of food has not been increased for over two years while open market prices have gone up, sp oit os simply not true anymore that the gap between the two is negligible. Yet there is no significant improvement in offtake. The regional pattern of PDS offtake shows that the southern and north eastern states continue to lift the bulk of their allocation. But in the Hindi heartland, states are lifting less than half their allocation. This suggests that the role of the price factor has been exaggerated. It appears that some state governments have simply lost interest in timely lifting and distribution, While others have not. To this extent, poor people in the heartland are being deprived of cheap grain through sheer callousness. In the revamped PDS areas. offtake is sosmewhat better at around 70 percent of allocations. Cynics will say this is because revamped PDS system gets grain at a price Rs. 50 per quintal less than the normal PDS and this makes it more attractive for government Intermediaries and shopkeepers to lift the grain and then divert it to the open market. They claim offtake is high in the south and northeast for similar reasons (open market prices are particularly high in these regions). These cannot be the whole explanation. But it is true that Kerala has an excellent PDS system and many Hindi speaking states do not. These problems cannot be tackled by increasing the food subsidy. We need a special investigation of the reasons for low offtake in the Hindi heartland and of the extent of diversion by shopkeepers and government agencies. Such a report should be given the widest publicity and the contain should be proceeded against. That will do far more to get grain to the poor than raising........... that never reach them.
Which of the following is mentioned in the passage as an apparent contradiction with relation to PDS?
(i) Drop in procurement of foodgrains and less offtake from PDS
(ii) Increase in market price and less offtake
(iii) Volume of offtake claimed by North-East. India is not commensurate with its population.
