Jharkhand's daily-wage labourers left out of PDS safety net fear starvation as employment dries up during COVID-19 lockdown

The white ration card has become a bane for many daily-wage workers in many districts of Jharkhand, especially Palamu, Simdega, West Singhbhum, and Bokar. The white card is among the three issued by the Jharkhand government, and the others are: Red PH ration card – which gives the benefit of 5 kilograms of rice to each member in a BPL family per month at a subsidised rate; The yellow AAY ration card – which allows one family to receive 35 kilograms of rice per month at a subsidised rate. “After complaining to many people, in two months I received one package of 10 kilograms of rice from the block office.” Prem, also a daily-wage labourer, received his white ration card four years ago, and has made several visits to the block office to get it rectified. James Herenj, convenor of the Jharkhand NREGA Watch said, “This loophole is occurring because there are no fixed eligibility criteria for white ration cards, like there are for red and yellow cards.” He added that the government’s failure to update the population data since the 2011 Socio Economic and Caste Census is also one of the main reasons, because in the nine years since the population in need of food security has grown. The Telegraph also reported, “…on 14 April the state government also included 8.4 lakh white card holders among beneficiaries who will get 10 kg of rice."