Persistence led to the fair price and stock disclosure- Case of Ration Card Fraud

Nazzu is a resident of Kherthal, a small village in Alwar, Rajasthan. He recently met Pankaj Sharma, District Coordinator, SoochnaPreneur project and shared scandalous activities carried out by the local ration dealer. He informed the SoochnaPreneur team that the local dealer often denies the customers rightful ration quota due to error in technology and also charge unfair price.

When SoochnaPreneur team did some background check, they found rampant corruption in ration distribution and many more locals being harassed by the shopkeepers. The adversely effected are the ones who are in dire need of subsidized food. In fact, when team looked up to the online ration status of Nazzu, it reflected that he has been delivered 80 kg food ration in past but in reality nothing has been received by him. The team also met some more locals who have similar issues of missing ration. To solve the problem SoochnaPreneur team took the RTI route. They also reported the matter to the Food commissioner and requested him to escalate the issue to the higher authorities. After a compliance enquiry from government, it was found out that due to the nexus between food and civil supplies department and ration dealers, most ration card holders are deprived of their rightful quota of subsidized food items. The local authorities swiftly came into action and warned vendors to comply with government prescribed rates and disclose actual stock to the customers. Nazzu has also received his missing ration from ration shop and is thankful to the SoochnaPreneurs for their much needed support.