CHENNAI: Children from about 50 Narikuravar families in Karasangal village in Kancheepuram miss out on nutritious food as the families do not have ration cards to avail subsidised items. Exacerbating the situation is the lockdown-induced closure of the anganwadis and schools that served noon meal to students from these families.
“Before the elections, the district officials issued Aadhaar cards; but to just ten families. Even they have not received their ration cards. We rely on a few NGOs for essentials,” said Lagma, a resident. Most of these families live by selling ornaments made of beads; this, however, earns them less than `100 a day.
Lack of ration cards also means they have to buy grain and groceries from local stores at MRP rates, a drain on their shoe-string budgets.
“Sometimes, we eat only twice a day as we don’t have enough food. Just drinking water and dry ration will go a long way in helping us meet our basic needs,” says Kumari, a resident. As of now, the tribals subsist on rice and simple curries like rasam. On days the NGOs give them dal or wheat, they make chapathi.
Every rupee counts
In a report titled ‘Public Distribution System in Tamil Nadu: Implications for Household Complications’, published in LANSA, in 2018, it is stated that a family saves up to `417 a month if they avail 20 kg rice from ration shops. The report said the savings were used by the families to purchase pulses, oil, vegetables, and sugar, all of which are required for a healthy diet. The report highlighted that one kg of rice from a ration shop has 3,460 calories while one kg of wheat has 3,410 calories and cereals 3,435 calories. This means families without ration cards are losing up to 10,000 calories.
Social activist Vanessa Peter of Information and Resource Centre for Deprived Urban Communities said that lack of ration cards affects the nutrition of the children and pushes the families into debt trap. M Azhagesan of the State Tribals Association said that officials know where these tribals live as, in the past, they have come for land measuring and surveys. “They even provided Aadhaar cards to a few. These issues must be addressed soon,” he added.