Ration riots - The Disconnect and the Connections

By Debarshi Das, Sanhati
Dhanupada Das was a landless farm labourer in Gonnaserendi village of Bardhaman district. He used to earn Rs 45 plus a kilo and a half of rice the day he found work. His son Paresh, a cowherd, could not attend school. They have to buy rice at Rs. 14 a kilogram in open market. The family cannot remember the last time they had dal. The vegetables consist of leaves of locally found plants. This family comes under the APL category. On 3rd of October, villagers accosted the local ration dealer; they wanted to know why wheat allotment under APL had not been available for the last 11 months. Police first lathi charged, allegedly under a local CPM leader’s instruction and then opened fire. Dhanupada was shot dead. For assets, the widow, Suchana, has a run-down hut and a cow which they have leased in. They can keep the milk if it calves.
Sitting in his comfortable drawing room, the village Panchayat chief Ansarul Haq theorises, “Those who are creating trouble are reactionary elements.” He does not know if the village ration dealer is honest or not, but “He is a good man.” The villagers were alleging that Panchayat leaders themselves had ordered the firing. The chief responds, “They were fining the dealers. We opposed the fining of the dealers. They don’t understand we were doing so in the interest of the people.” He assures that he was considering if the widow could be given widow dole.
Langalhata village of Birbhum district was home of Ayub Shekh. “He fell to a police bullet after joining a team that had gone to the block development officer at Labhpur in Birbhum to demand action against corrupt dealers.” After he was killed in the ration turmoil, instead of a ration card, a job card was found in his pocket. Perhaps Rs. 6.75 a kilogram wheat under the ration scheme does not entirely explain the fire which engulfed south Bengal. The link between the right to work and food security is clear to the poorest and the illiterate. In Radhakrishnapur, Chandmoni Tudu, does not whine over not getting her rightful supply of grains. She is angry because she had worked for 7 days and she had to put thumb impression under 14 days. The police had refused to lodge a complaint. On handing out morsels of subsistence people may have given up on the ruling dispensation. They are demanding the right to work, to work with dignity. When this is not being met, the starkest and most unjust manifestations of the nexus, the ration shops, are being raged.
Swati Bhattacharya further writes, “Touring the villages one could not find support for the hypothesis that the ration system is collapsing due to APL customers; and hence the poorest BPL customers are bearing the brunt….There might be difference in the central allocations, but ration scam does not differentiate between APL and BPL. That the theory of class conflict one hears on ration scam is a cruel parody of reality can be realised if one is a little observant while visiting the villages.” When the whole body is infected it is indeed ludicrous to amputate the APL part. The enormity of the situation is brought home by the following pieces of statistics. Percentage of people who get the right quantity of ration allocation is 2% in Bengal (national average 8%, Bihar 6%). Percentage getting the right quality is even worse at 1% (9%, 14%). Percentage of those who get their rations regularly is 9% (23%, 10%). In 2002, a survey was conducted in 24 states investigating the administration of the Public Distribution System. Tamil Nadu topped the list, West Bengal was at 17. NREGA implementation in the state is equally abysmal. The complicity of the reactionary-hating ‘Leftists’ becomes clear as one reads, “One ration dealer of Sonamukhi in Bankura, accused of hoarding foodgrains, has admitted that he has been funding party programmes. “It would have been impossible to run my business without the help of the party,” he said…. A party source who refused to be named, said: “Ours is the ruling party with a strong organization down to the grassroots level. So, the leadership was very much aware that ration dealers sell foodgrains meant for public distribution in the black market. It is not possible for ration dealers to carry on the illegal business without backing from sections of the party.””
One woman member of the state Agricultural Labourers Forum is remarkably clear on the rural reality, “Land owners, school teachers, rice dealers will never do anything for us.” Aside from gaping poverty and getting killed by the aforesaid clique, one more thread binds Dhanupada Das of Gonnaserendi and Ayub Shekh of Langalhata together. Panchayat chiefs did not dare to visit their houses after the deaths.