Own Thoughts Shared Without Copyright. Views are Personal & Opinions are Fearlessly Public.
October 18, 2010
Chinese viewing UFO: A hoax thing
September 18, 2010
Public Distribution System Scam
India, a country where a huge majority of people, after passing almost 65 years of independence, still struggle every day for earning a square meal. Public distribution system for food is one of the vital service which helps in survival of poor Indians. Public distribution system is also called as Rationing system in various parts of the country and also here in West Bengal.
A country obsessed with democracy, where human beings are only measured as ONE MAN - ONE VOTE, many promises given to general public after every five years. Irrespective of the political parties, each of them must have some new promises regarding the rationing system every time when election arrives at our doorsteps. We are now become used to here promises like Rs. 2 per kg of food grains for BPL (Below Poverty Line) card holders etc etc. I must say, many of them are also implemented which is a positive thing above all the negatives. But is there anyone who looks after about the clarity of this distribution process to observe that it is really reaching to the end user or what we call poor masses? I think there is authority to do so but as we are habituated to see, people who have power to work, do not work and poor people suffers and do not know what to do and what not.
I could not say anything about the distribution mechanism of between Central and State government and between the State and Ration Dealers. But I want to share something what I observed for last few months. I believe an open scam is happening in the process of food distribution from ration dealers to common people.
I live near the proper Kolkata metropolitan city area. Here, now a day’s APL and BPL card holders get rations every week i.e. 4 times a month. But in every month there must be a week when the Ration Shop will closed for the whole week for some unknown reasons. Whenever you ask questions regarding these you will get answers which are not satisfactory at all. Answers like “Delivery was not available”, “I was ill for the whole week” etc which are not convincing at all when you hear them on for last 6-8 months repetitively. As of when there is no news of food scarcity in the state or in the whole countries perspective. Where are the food grains allotted for that particular week eloped?
For last 2-3 months, wheat is allotted for APL 600 gms at the price of Rs. 6.75/kg per cardholder (price may vary for some paisa). BPL gets more as usual. And another lot of wheat is available for the value of Rs. 10/kg. This extra wheat can be purchase as of your requirement and wish. Here the suspicious process happens each and every time in many or most of the shops in the locality. You buy the extra wheat or not dealer will write them on the receipt. Say you have 4 APL cards. He will entry 4 * 600 gms of wheat (what you originally want to purchase) in the receipt or in the bill book. He will also do an entry of extra 2-3 kg of that Rs. 10/kg wheat (which you do not what to purchase). Also rise, oil etc if available on that particular week. After tearing the paper from bill book he will strike of the extra entries. After reading that much, you may think that what so suspicious in it? After all he strikes out the entry, so what is the problem with this guy? No, my dear friend, here is the magic. When he made the entry, paper or the receipt was attached with the bill book which recorded as the carbon paper was under the bill book. Now he can easily say that the card holder has taken the 600gms of wheat and also the extra Rs. 10/kg wheat for 3 kgs or so. Even he has the prove to show to the government or the authority concerned. I think ration dealers sale that portion of wheat and other products to the open market through back door. Other than that what would be the motive of doing that false entry? It is very much crystal clear. But saddest part is less education, observation and thinking is helping those dealers to enjoy black money over the years. Let us assume he has 1000 cards under him. Just think the amount of black money is being generated every week?
We have to prevent this immediately. If they have the guts to do this much openly how much they do under cover only god and black marketers may have the proper knowledge of that.
To prevent these things inspection or checking facilities must be there to observe the proceedings. More over there also need to have a computer generated billing facilities. To prevent scam printed billing facilities must have been installed. Same kind of things happens in case of kerosene oil distribution.
In case of kerosene oil distribution, distributors offer lesser amount of kerosene to the people. There are also many loop holes and situations arises which cause suspicion in peoples mind. Many people are silent because of less checking facilities. Also they don’t know the proper channel to complain and to whom to complain. Make it mandatory for every distributor or ration shop that they must display address or contact number of the office concern where people can complain if they are not satisfied with the service or they have any suspicion and question in their mind.
We have to stop and prevent this open loot of our national properties. These cannot be a problem of only a zila or the state of West Bengal. This is our national problem. Almost every one of us who visited their local ration shop has same or alike experiences at least once in his/her life. Our parents also tell us about how public distribution system was tempered at their times. So, it is an old problem of our society which now has taken a picture of an open scam. Let’s join hand and pressurize our respective governments to take necessary actions.
Thanks for reading.
February 26, 2010
Highlights of 2010-11 Finance Budget
Presenting the interim Budget for 2009-10 in Lok Sabha, acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee claimed in Parliament on Monday that every effort has been made to fulfil promises made to the common man.
Highlights of the Interim Budget 2009-10:
Outlook For The Year 2008-09
Initiatives and Achievement
Agriculture
Education
Social Sector
Financial Sector Reforms
Tax Effort
Administrative Reforms
Revised Estimates
Budget Estimates
February 24, 2010
Highlights of 2010-11 Railway Budget
Highlights of the 2010-11 Railway budget presented by Mamata Banerjee in parliament on 24th of Feb 2010
-- No increase in passenger fares
-- Rs.100 reduction in freight per wagon for fertilisers and kerosene
-- Free travel for cancer patients in 3rd AC classes
-- Cost-sharing in public-private-partnership (PPP) mode in some gauge-conversion projects
-- Further extension of Kolkata Metro on priority basis; stations to be named after Bahadur Shah Zafar, Tagore family
-- Karmabhoomi trains to be introduced for migrant labour
-- New Janmabhoomi train between Ahmedabad and Udhampur
-- Special 'Bharat Teertha' train to be run around India to commemorate Rabindranath Tagore's 150th birth anniversary
-- Railway line to be extended from Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir
-- Andaman and Nicobar Islands to get railway line from Port Blair to Diglipur
-- Sikkim capital Gangtok to be connected by rail from Rangpo
-- 2011 being 150th anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, special train to be run from West Bengal to Bangladesh
-- Impact of Sixth Pay Commission recommendations placed at Rs.55,000 crore
-- Gross earnings in 2009-10 estimated at Rs.88,281 crore
-- Working expenditure in 2009-10 estimated at Rs.83,440 crore
-- Expenses during 2010-11 estimated at Rs.87,100 crore
-- Thrust on expansion in 2010-11 with allocation of Rs.4,411 crore
-- Kashmir rail link to be extended to Sopore in the north of the valley
-- Net profit of Rs.1,328 crore in 2009-10
-- 10 automobile ancillary hubs to be created
-- Twenty-two million energy saving CFLs for lighting distributed already
-- Policy decision to employ one member of family whose land is requisitioned for railway projects
-- North-south, east-west dedicated freight corridors to be created
-- Construction of high-speed passenger rail corridors envisaged
-- More multi-functional hospitals to be set up
-- Educational facilities to be set up for children of 80,000 women families
-- Special facilities to be established for gangmen
-- Insurance facilities for licensed porters as part of railway's corporate social responsibility
-- Centre for railway research to be established with Indian Institutes of Technology and Defence Research and Development Organisation
-- Will involve unions in policy making
-- Integral Coach Factory Chennai to be further modernised
-- New wagon repair shop in Mumbai
-- Design, development and testing centre for railway wheels at Bangalore
-- Within five years, all unmanned level crossings to be manned
-- Construction of more underpasses, besides road overbridges
-- Greater coordination with state governments to protect railway property
-- Security of women passengers to be improved
-- Ex-servicemen to be employed in Railway Protection Force
-- Five sports academies to be set up; astroturf to be provided for development of hockey; employment opportunities for sports persons
-- Railways to be lead partner for Commonwealth Games
-- Special drive to increase passenger amenities
-- Upgradation of 94 stations
-- Six new drinking water bottling plants in PPP mode
-- Modern toilets at railway stations
-- More ticketing centres to help the public
-- Acquisition of cutting edge safety technology
-- 1,000 route km to be created
-- Special task force for clearing investment proposals in 100 days
-- New business model to be created
-- No privatisation; railways will remain with government but with greater participation of business community
-- 117 of 120 new trains for current fiscal to be flagged off