Dear editor,

I have been reading the pages of MEL with great interest on the question of right to food, and the need for a universal PDS. I fully support this demand. I also appreciate the campaign launched by Lok Raj Sangathan on this issue.

I recall, when I was a young girl in the 80’s, that in that period the PDS was at least in name universal. There was no differentiation between Antyodya, BPL, APL etc. These divisions have effectively destroyed whatever universal PDS that existed in those days.

It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that every family is guaranteed food. PDS shops should be run by the government, not by private contractors or licensees. The worker in the PDS shop should be paid wages by the government. He should open the shop 8 hours a day, six days a week. The PDS shop should be under the control and supervision of a committee set up by the residents of the area. These PDS outlets should supply wheat, rice, cooking oil, kerosene, pulses, soap, eggs and all that the community in the particular area needs.

This is the way, in my opinion, that we can fight the corruption in the PDS and control the effects of the rising prices. We can put a stop to the black marketeering and profiteering in food.

The farmers should be ensured that the government will buy their produce. Government should set remunerative prices. In this way, the working class and peasantry will get some security.

Meera Kumari,
Mumbai