It is deeply unfortunate that violence, thus far confined to rural Bengal, has roiled the public distribution system at a direly critical juncture. Its benefits are said to have been enhanced in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, but the cries of the hungry ~ and not merely the stranded migrants ~ have been greeted with violence against the system.

The current wave of attacks targeting the PDS network is embedded in inadequate supplies from the Centre, most particularly of pulses. Albeit for different reasons, the violence is reminiscent of the food riots in October 2007 and earlier still in 1966, when foodgrain earmarked for the ration shops had made a round trip to the open market, there to be sold at inflated rates.

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The state government, which is yet to rebut the allegation, would appear to have calibrated the requirement on the basis of an indeterminate number of prospective beneficiaries. In a sense, the administration has played into the hands of the Opposition, specifically the BJP and to a lesser extent the CPI-M; in the government’s reckoning, both parties have instigated the hungry, most particularly in Murshidabad and East Burdwan districts.

Quite total is the absence of clarity on who precisely are entitled to additional foodgrain free of cost. This recalls the discord between the Centre and the Planning Commission in 2008-09 over the quantity of foodgrain the poor (Below Poverty Line) would be entitled to consume under what was touted as the flagship Food Security Act.

Sad to reflect, the insecurity over life’s essential persists to this day and despite the change of dispensations at the Centre. Ever since 26 March, when the first phase of the lockdown came into force, the Centre had initiated the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for the poor, with a time-frame of three months.

It envisages that those in Bengal who meet the criteria under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will, till the end of June, be entitled to 5 kg of rice and one kg of pulses free of cost and this will be over and above their normal allotment.

The utter chaos is overwhelming given the stark disconnect between demand and supply, theoretically a fundamental aspect of public policy. It is painful to reflect that the food crisis has exacerbated the coronavirus pandemic. The challenge has turned out to be no less forbidding than treating the dreadful scourge, whether in hospital or at home, as recently recommended.

It devolves on the Centre to assess why West Bengal has received barely 4,000 tonnes of pulses, whereas the state’s requirement is said to be more than 14,000 tonnes to operate the system for even a month. The administration has ruled out the distribution of pulses “until we get the entire monthly allotment as it could lead to serious trouble across the state”.

The poor and the hungry cannot be expected to grasp the nitty-gritty of the demand/supply construct. Palpable is the absence of coordination as in the task of auditing deaths. Extension of the lockdown is a feeble response to an ugly truth.