[ಕನ್ನಡ ಅನುವಾದ ಶೀಘ್ರದಲ್ಲೇ ಬರಲಿದೆ — Kannada translation coming soon]
should be doing every thing to protect reserve forest on Chamundi and not destroy it. Also reduce use of private vehicles. May 2016 Kerosene Coupon System: History Repeating or End of An Era of Kerosene Diversion. Bhamy V. Shenoy June 1st, 2016 in Mysore can herald a beginning to the end of an Era of PDS kerosene diversion to generate black money. But will it? More than likely history may repeat and the government may discard one more attempt to assist the poor in getting their kerosene quota without any hassle. Ration card holders waiting for the dealer to open his store. – a typical scene in front of any kerosene dealer. The current coupon system is based on the latest technology of Aadhaar and mobile phones. Now the system is even more foolproof (earlier coupons could have been duplicated) because of the use of bio-metric based identification.
Diversion of kerosene is near impossible. Of course people who are rich can claim that they belong to BPL status and get coupons. However this is likely to be a small percentage. Prior to the current coupon system, MGP had suggested for the first time a simple coupon system in 90s. At the request of the deputy commissioner, V P Baligar MGP had studied the PDS kerosene system. The study revealed rampant diversion of Kerosene mostly to blend with petrol and sell in the black market. The study also revealed that kerosene dealers were paid poorly and were compelled to earn money through diversion. It was this opportunity which attracted many to get kerosene dealerships using political influence. When former MP Viswanath (he was an MLA then for K R Nagar) learnt about MGP’s proposed coupon system, he convinced the district administration to introduce it in K R Nagar on an experimental basis. When it worked well with outstanding results, it was introduced in Mysore district. I went to see first hand how it was working in K R Nagar. Instead of ration card holders waiting to get kerosene, vendors were waiting for them to come and buy their ration. Vendors were complaining to me that they have to wait for customers to come. Earlier, they did not care that their consumers had to wait for hours and some times even return empty handed. The coupon system resulted in zero diversion of PDS kerosene. This is because the quantity of kerosene Vendors got next month was based on coupons they have received from the ration card holders. Frustrated with the coupon system, vendors complained to DC. Once after the meeting at DC’s office when I was coming out with the President of MGP, Prof Ananthswamy, we were gheraoed by the vendors. They demanded that either we ask DC to drop the coupon system or we give them the government job. They were claiming that they would be soon on the road. That day MGP office was stoned. Later GOK tried to introduce the coupon system all over the state. Sadly most of the politicians opposed it and coupons system was dropped. What a shame! I could not figure out how they could have convinced the government that the coupon system was not helping the poor when it had showed excellent results in Mysore.
History seems to be repeating now. I read that vendors were complaining against the modified coupon system. Instead they should be complaining about the poor commission. Based on detailed computation of diversion of PDS kerosene, I had estimated that every year as much as Rs 20,000 to 25,000 crores of black money was generated. This is far more than any 2G or coal gate scams. It is this honey pot of easy money which is forcing the politicians to oppose any strategy to improve PDS kerosene system. Once direct benefit system(DBT) based on aadhaar was implemented to distribute residential LPG, diversion has been minimized. We will see similar results with PDS kerosene. My guess is that kerosene dealers with the help of politicians will succeed in their protest and coupon system will be given up as in the past unless some miracle takes place. This is how the history will repeat unfortunately. LPG dealers did not protest against the DBT like the kerosene dealers. This is because they are paid reasonable amount of commission. It is not the case with kerosene dealers. The government should offer them reasonable commission also based on their cost. to trade. Then the government will be in a better moral position not to yield to their protest. Few years back a Supreme Court appointed committee after studying the PDS, had concluded that it is designed to be corrupt. One reason they highlighted was poor commission. While the coupon system will solve the diversion problem, it is a highly sophisticated system to deliver a small amount of subsidy (less than Rs 50 per family per month). Government should seriously think of eliminating PDS kerosene, a system which came into existence as a result of kerosene shortage during World War II. With ample supply of kerosene and need for kerosene declining (Chandigara has become a kerosene free city in recent months), dropping PDS kerosene will not be a vote loser. There are far more efficient ways of helping the poor using the platform of DBT. Oct 2016 Mysore can be SAVED only if Mysoreans get involved. Bhamy V. Shenoy