To prevent 'relatively well-to-do families' from enjoying subsidised food grains reserved for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, the Rajasthan government came up with a rather humiliating approach, asking the latter to put up yellow boards that say 'I am poor' outside their homes.
The National Food Security Act launched in 2013 by the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot was aimed at providing food at subsidized rates to families of below poverty line.
BPL families who are the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act have reportedly been asked to paint the humiliating markings outside their homes to segregate them from other self- sufficient families. The class profiling is supposed by the Vasundhra Raje govt to prevent misuse by the 'relatively well-to-do's.
On the other hand, availing the benefits of subsidies has anyway been a struggle for the poor with the central government making Aadhaar mandatory for taking foodgrain through the Public Distribution System (PDS) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and also for cash transfers in lieu of the food subsidy under it.
According to a report by The Dainik Bhaskar, the markings 'I am extremely poor' can be seen on the walls of around 50,000 BPL families in Dhosa district, as a latest mark of class profiling and humiliation.
Families who do not have such markings face the risk of losing out on the scheme with authorities threatening to remove them from the list of beneficiaries, the report adds.
Rival Congress has slammed the BJP government's move, calling it 'anti-poor'.
'It’s a sick joke. If the state government provides them ration under the Food Security Act, it’s their legal right, and not a charity from the government. It proves the BJP governments at the Centre and in states are anti-poor,” the Hindustan Times has quoted Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari as saying.
Later last year, BPL families in Rajasthan's Bilwara faced a similar profiling and segregation when their houses were painted with a yellow patch with the name of the beneficiary and identification number.
According to a report by the Times Of India, the local administration 'profiled' at least over one lakh houses in rural Bhilwara with this BPL mark, 'clearly defining their status and differentiating them from their more prosperous brethren in the caste-sensitive district.'
Rajasthan chief Minister Vasundhra raje has been in news recently for other controversial upheavals in the state as well, including those of making stark changes in the education sector.
