Four Chennai-based IITians lived in various isolated villages in the state and across the country, eating ration rice with villagers, taking part in protests with the public, inspecting PDS stores and meeting civil supplies officers to discuss complaints from ration card-holders as part of a survey for The Right to Food.
After their sojourn, Binny Alexander, Samyutka Kannan, Preshant Sekar and Manish Kumar, all 20 years old, informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the PDS situation at the ground level in the most backward districts of the country like Dindugul and Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu, Nalanda in Bihar, and areas in Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh.
They informed the prime minister about the desperate need for uninterrupted PDS supplies by families in villages in all parts of the country and said that the people would be thankful if millets and vegetables were also provided in ration shops.
Samyutka and Preshant walked through remote hamlets and found out that rich families drew PDS rice to use as chicken feed. “Poor families have to make do with 35 kg of rice for the entire month and the rich feed it to their chickens.
“People are surprised that they receive fresh and good-quality stock during the first month after the election. They will be happy if the same kind of ration is provided throughout the year,†they observed.
Apart from taking surveys in Jharkhand, Binny protested against lapses in rations along with other villagers.
“The angry public complained that they were served rations based on outdated BPL rules framed before the bifurcation of Bihar. They had got rations for only five months last year. I supported them and spoke to the government officers there,†he said.