The Rising People’s Party (RPP) has called on the Commissioner and Secretary of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Nagaland, to “publicize the list of beneficiaries under the Tide-Over category within 10 days” in the interest of transparency and accountability.
According to the party, information obtained through RTI documents revealed that the department “claims not to have the names of beneficiaries under the Tide-Over category,” which the RPP described as “surprising.” Citing the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution’s letter (F.NO.15-33/2015-NFSA dated 7th December 2015), the RPP pointed out that states had been directed to “digitize beneficiary database and upload in the state portal before the implementation of the NFSA, 2013.”
Further referring to the Ministry’s letter (F.No. 15-62/2022-NFSA dated 27/01/2023), the RPP highlighted that “the state government shall place the list of the identified eligible households in the public domain and display it prominently.”
The RPP also raised concerns over what it termed as “another strange claim” by the department that “the distribution of rice is done by the stockiest themselves.” The party noted that “be as it may be, the stockiest/handling agents/ carriage contractors should be having the names of the beneficiaries,” and therefore urged the department to “upload these names in public domain, such as department website, state portal, etc.”
“The matter is serious,” the RPP stressed, “because the issue pertains to the distribution of 3,17,563.04 MT of Tide-Over rice issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to the state between the years 2018 – (October) 2024.”