Explainer: Why free ration audit has AAP fuming

Even as parts of Punjab are reeling under floods, the audit of free ration beneficiaries initiated by the Centre has turned into a political slugfest between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Modi government has asked all states to verify the credentials of eight crore suspicious beneficiaries in its effort to clean up the free food subsidy under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The AAP-ruled Punjab government has refused to comply, calling it a BJP agenda to deny free ration to the poor. The face-off is being played out at a time when the BJP is positioning itself as a serious contender in the 2027 Assembly elections.

Over the past couple of years, the Centre had been flagging the issue of “suspicious” beneficiaries under the food security scheme. In fact, after the AAP came to power in 2022, a verification drive was carried out and around 2.8 lakh ration cards were deleted. However, just before the 2024 General Election, Punjab’s Council of Ministers decided to restore the subsidised foodgrains for 10.77 lakh people under NFSA, citing “larger public interest”. Since then, only 32,473 beneficiaries have been removed from the list of eligible beneficiaries.

The Centre spends nearly Rs 2 lakh crore per annum on NFSA. It decided to match the data of beneficiaries with databases of departments like the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (to see if beneficiaries are taxpayers), Ministry of Corporate Affairs (to see if they are directors in any company), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (to see if they own four-wheelers) and with PM Kisan (to check the landholding).

After the data convergence, states were asked to verify the “suspicious” beneficiaries, who may be availing free wheat (5 kg per beneficiary per month). The verification of 76.1 crore beneficiaries, including 1.53 crore in Punjab, was to be completed by September 30.

The Punjab BJP unit, in its bid to make political inroads, started holding awareness camps about Central schemes meant to benefit the marginalised sections, thus ruffling the feathers of the ruling AAP.

Through these camps, the AAP leadership alleged, the BJP was collecting data of potential voters and reaching out to them. What initially began as a crackdown against BJP leaders to prevent collection of personal data turned into a duel over who stands with the poor.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said he would not allow any deletion of beneficiaries, citing flaws in data convergence, including directors in farmer producer organisations being “targeted as ineligible”. He also spoke of the ethical right of farmers to free grains.

Punjab has now sought six months’ time to complete the verification, citing the paddy season. Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi said the Centre was committed to giving free wheat for 1.41 crore beneficiaries to Punjab and only wanted the state to weed out ineligible beneficiaries.

The floods have forced the parties to step back, but key questions emerge — if all other states comply with the Centre’s directive, for how long can Punjab put it off, and in case a populist decision is taken to continue giving free wheat to all the beneficiaries, how will the cash-strapped government buy the extra grains?