Kejriwal’s promise of free ration to workers fails as website plagued by technical issues
“I want to assure you that we would not let anyone in Delhi suffer from hunger,” Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, said in a press conference, on 4 April. Reports had already emerged of many in Delhi, particularly migrant workers, having no access to food since the start of the nationwide lockdown to fight COVID-19, on 25 March. Kejriwal added that foodgrain would be made accessible to migrant workers if they applied through a form on the Delhi government’s website. But using the website posed a series of obstacles for migrant workers, not least that it is wasn’t even accessible.
At the very outset, the Delhi government’s decision to introduce the scheme through a website raises questions, given that many daily-wage labourers lack the necessary access to internet or literacy to submit an application, making it an unreasonable system. Further, the form is not available in the Hindi version of the state government’s official website. Worse still, the form has been inaccessible on the English website since the morning of 6 April—upon clicking the form, the website shows an error message that reads, “Server under heavy load! Please check after some time.” The Delhi government’s technocratic attempt at addressing hunger in the national capital has left many workers without any access to food.
The unanticipated nationwide lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 March resulted in a panicked situation for the poor and migrant labourers in large cities across India. Food scarcity, inflation and the disruption of food-supply chains meant that food was difficult to access for many in Delhi. Closures in construction and small-scale industries has also contributed to the severe food insecurity for daily-wage earners and migrant labourers, many of whom are attempting to return to their native villages in neighbouring states.
Various state governments attempted to address the food insecurity of migrant labourers with varying degrees of success. The government of Kerala has set up relief camps for forty-six thousand migrant labourers in the state and set up free community kitchens to feed them. These kitchens even make north Indian food because many migrants from that region were not as comfortable with Kerala’s cuisine. Similarly, on 30 March, the Telangana government ordered municipalities and panchayats to set up temporary relief camps for all migrant labourers. It also provided 12 kilograms of wheat and Rs 500 to over thirty-four thousand migrant labourers who did not possess the food-security cards distributed by the government.
Taking a cue from his counterparts in the southern states, on 4 April, Kejriwal announced that the Delhi government was creating a system of distributing foodgrain to around ten lakh residents of the city who did not hold ration cards. Speaking at the press conference about non-ration card holders getting access to food, Kejriwal said, “A small form has been created on the website fill up that form and register. Registration is necessary if we start giving ration just like that.” He continued, “People will start taking ration more than ten times and there is not that much ration. The reason for this registration is so that people don’t come take ration again second or third time.”
According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India—a telecom industry body—in 2019, the national capital territory had 1.2 crore internet users. The population of the national capital territory is more than 1.9 crore. Lower-income groups, particularly daily-wage labourers and migrant workers, are far more likely to fall into the state’s seventy lakh residents who do not use the internet. The Aam Aadmi Party government did not provide an alternate method to apply for foodgrain, or to even create a system to provide assistance to individuals who could not access the internet, it appears likely that many of the city’s migrant workers will not benefit from the programme.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government Hindi website does not have any hyperlink in Hindi to the registration form that an applicant has to submit for the free ration coupons. Given that a majority of blue-collar migrant workers to Delhi are unlikely to be proficient in English, this is likely to be major hurdle for them to get access to rations. Since the morning of 6 April, the hyperlink provided on the government of Delhi website for residents of the city who did not hold ration cards and wanted to register for the free ration, sent applicants to a page with an error message. Upon noticing, I had posted a screenshot of the website on Twitter on 6 April. The hyperlink was not functional as of the night of 12 April, but is currently working. However, it is not yet clear how many applications have gotten approved and will be able to collect rations. On the other hand, since 21 March, Kejriwal has been able to successfully hold glitch-free digital press conferences almost daily.
At the 4 April press conference, Kejriwal said that thirty to forty thousand people without ration cards had already registered for the rations. The hyperlink on their website had only been active for two days at this point. Babu Lal, a daily wager from Gounda in Uttar Pradesh, who is living in Delhi’s Mayapuri locality, recounted his unsuccessful attempt to apply for the rations. Initially on the website, the user is supposed to submit their phone number, which prompts a request for a one-time password that is sent to that phone. This password grants access to a form in which the user has to submit a scanned copy of their voter ID card, as well as photos of themselves, their family and the Aadhar cards of everyone in their family.
Following this, the application is sent for approval. If the application is approved, the user will receive an e-coupon on the phone. This e-coupon can be shown at the nearest of 421 locations in the city—mostly in schools—which Kejriwal announced had been set up to distribute special rations. Here, the Delhi government had promised, the successful applicants would receive four kilograms of wheat and one kilogram of rice, significantly lower than what ration-card holders get. Among the workers I spoke to who had submitted their application on 5 April, none have yet been approved for the programme or received an e-coupon.
On 26 March, Nirmala Sitharaman, the union finance minister, announced at a press conference that they would distribute five kilograms of food grain and one kilogram of pulses per person for free, for the following three months. Kejriwal also announced, on 6 March, that Delhi’s 71 lakh ration-card holders would receive 7.5 kilograms of food grain. However, a visit to the fair-price shop at the Nangal Raya locality in western Delhi revealed that ration-card holders were not receiving the one kilogram of pulses that Sitharaman had promised. This is critical because pulses make up a majority of the protein intake for many in India. Kejriwal in the 6 April press conference announced that the 6.5 lakh people who have applied for ration cards in the past few years and have not received them yet, will also get full rations.
Babu Lal, a resident of Khajan Basti, was among those who did not receive any pulses at the ration shop. Lal lives with his wife and two children. He said he had not earned anything since 20 March. Lal added that he had not received any food or ration from the Delhi government and that his savings have been shrinking in paying for food grain. He told me he had tried applying for the free ration on the Delhi government’s website but said that the website was not functional. Forced by his desperate circumstances to find food elsewhere, Lal said he was planning to leave Delhi on foot, with his wife and children, to Gounda because there was no transport available. This was a predicament faced by many migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh who had reached Anand Vihar bus terminus on 29 March, in an attempt to find transport to their homes.
Rajkumar, a daily wager from Uttar Pradesh working in Delhi’s Mayapuri area, echoed Lal’s struggles. He said that he has not worked since the announcement of the lockdown, on 24 March, and is surviving on food that is distributed on the road. While the government has been slow in ensuring food security for migrant labourers, various civil-society groups, individuals and religious institutions such as temples, mosques and gurudwaras are shouldering the responsibility of feeding them. Rajkumar said he had applied for the free ration on the Delhi government website on his mobile phone but saw the same error message. “If we are not able to get ration, there is nothing I can do but return to my village. And if trains are not running, I will have to walk there,” he said.
Yet another case of an unsuccessful attempt to secure ration has been that of Samir Khan, a daily wager from Bahraich, in Uttar Pradesh. Khan lives in Delhi with his wife and children. He said that the family has been surviving on food distributed at a nearby school by well-wishers. Khan said that at times, the food has been insufficient for his whole family. Many who stand in the line for food outside the school are forced to leave hungry after the food gets over. He told me that he had tried to apply for the free ration on the Delhi government’s website, but it had not been functional for the last two days, since 7 April. He showed me the non-functional hyperlink in the website on his mobile phone. He said he was planning to leave Delhi along with his family after the lock down is lifted, which he hoped would be on 14 April.
“I am willing to go to jail,” Bola, a migrant from a village near Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, told me. “At least the government will have to give me food behind bars.” He used to work as a scrap dealer. Bola said he was left with no money and was unable to get food because the Delhi Police had been violently attacking any migrants they find outdoors. “We are constantly scared of going out because of the police. We are quickly running out of the food and have no idea what to do after this,” he said.
The complaint helpline for the public-distribution system in Delhi is 1967. On dialing the number, a caller is greeted with an automated message which says, “Welcome to Delhi food and supplies. All our agents are busy with other customer please stay on the line.” The call then suddenly disconnects. I have received no response yet to queries emailed to the offices of the chief minister, deputy chief minister, minister of food and civil supply, and secretary and commissioner of food and civil supply.
On 29 March, several thousands of migrant workers tried to flee the national capital by attempting to catch busses at Anand Vihar bus terminus. Accounts from these migrant workers recount how many of them were trying to flee because of a completely lack of food. With the gross mismanagement of the attempt to reach migrant workers through the public distribution system, Kejriwal is risking another exodus of migrant workers.