BASICS!!

How can the poor afford things? How can they survive? What does the govenment do? I got to admit that I have been really living in ignominy for the past few years in this regard. We, as a part of the SAMBHAV group here in DA-IICT are taking a survey in Maninagar on various aspects ranging from general details, health and food to awareness and life there. The first thing is that it is really moving to see the state of people there. They have plenty of challenges ranging from shelter to health. On top of that, there seems to be a lack of support from the government which we in India take for granted that the government is useless. Well, they too have the same opinion. Anyway I actually wanted to talk about the "ration card". Guess most of us dont really know how this system works(if at all it does). So I have done some research(rather 'net'search) and had some discussion on the ration card to develop a better understanding of this.
Lets start with the basics. A ration card is a card given by the government, in India it is by the state government allowing the holder to obtain certain rations.Each state has its own policy in issuing these cards.Rationing, by defintion is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods and services. Coming to the main point, ration card helps you get the food cheaper. The government gives a particular colour card depending on your income, white,pink,yellow and green. For example, in A.P, you would be given a white card if your income is less than 11,000 Rs/annum otherwise a pink card. With this one can get upto 20 kgs of rice at 4/kg and other things like sugar,oil and kerosene.
Every state its got its own policy. In Karnataka(not sure about other states), they do not allow any third party, even social workers to apply for ration cards for the poor. So, the government wants the person who can barely make both ends meet to go to the office(again this depends on the state) and submit photos and various proofs and get the ration card. Realllly helpful! In the recent interaction I had with the people in Maninagar, one of them told me that he had paid(and many others too) 1000Rs to a broker to get them their ration card! Nothing is FREE even if called FREE. And also there are plenty of procedures for adding members, address changing, etc. Anyone would find it really lenghty.... So who benefits? Not the people who it was aimed at. There needs to be simpler and easier procedures to actually encourage and reach out to the poor.