New Delhi: The Supreme Court observed that the ration card had become a “popular card” and wondered Wednesday whether benefits to the poor were intended to infiltrate those who were not worth it.
Justices of Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh said the benefits of subsidies should attract real beneficiaries. “What we worry about is that welfare has become a popular card for those who are truly poor who don’t deserve it’s pockets,” Surya Kant said.
The judge continued: “These states just say we have issued a lot of cards. Some states say our per capita income is growing when they have to show their development. Then, when we talk about BPL, they say 75% of the population is BPL. BPL is BPL.
The Supreme Court noted that states grew at high per capita when asked to emphasize the development index, but 75% of their population was below the poverty line when it comes to subsidies.
The bench heard a request in the SUO MOTU case initiated during the 19th pandemic to address the suffering of immigrant workers.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appears among some interventionists, saying the anomalies are due to inequality in people’s income. “There are a few people with huge wealth compared to other populations and the per capita income figure is the average of the total income in the state. The rich continue to become richer, while the poor remain poor,” he said.
Bushan said poor migrant workers registered on the government’s E-Creation Portal need free ration, a number of about 80 million.
Judge Surya Kant said: “We hope that in issuing ration cards, there is no political element. I have not lost my roots. I have always wanted to know the plight of the poor. Some families are still poor.”
Bhushan said the center did not conduct the 2021 census and therefore continued to rely on data from the 2011 census, so about 100 million people need to be freely allocated, but are still not in the BPL category.
