Bengali Report - Bengalee Association Bihar

The most substantive welfare programme of the state government for helping the
economically disadvantaged population is the Public Distribution System (PDS) for
foodgrains and a few other essential items of consumption. Although it is a
universal programme, the real beneficiaries are those who hold a ration card which
is either red (BPL household), or white (annapurna programme) or yellow (antodaya
programme). The households living above poverty line (APL) are given a blue card.
The distribution of ration cards of various types by the administration is beset with a
number of problems in Bihar, and the situation is no different for Bengali
households. In spite of wide prevalence of poverty, the proportion of Bengali
households holding a red, yellow or white card is less than 40 percent (Table 11).
Since the poverty level among the Bengali population is relatively higher in West
Champaran and East Champaran, one also finds relatively more red/white/yellow
cards in those districts. Yet another problem for the Bengali households vis-à-vis
public distribution system is that 30.4 percent of them do not have any ration card. It
is quite possible that some of these excluded households probably did not care to
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