India is basically divided into two sets of groups: one group that holds power for the welfare of society is already corrupt, and the second group is waiting for their turn to become corrupt. Whenever anyone gets an opportunity, the chances are higher that he/she will succumb to it quite easily. In other words, the means of earning money has such a strong immune system that deals with anything on this earth. However, money is the greatest purifier on earth. Let’s go through the Insightfultake lens to examine it in rural Bihar which is ground by poverty and unemployment.
The government of India has been providing free rations to the poor people of India who belong to BPL (below poverty line). If the annual income of a family does not exceed INR 24,000 annually in rural Bihar, the family will fall under the category of BPL. There are many welfare schemes that have been running under the government of India to support the poor citizens of India. One of the popular schemes is to provide 10 kg of food grains to poor people every month, and it became the real source of livelihood for rural poor people during the COVID pandemic. Considering the pathetic plight of rural people, the government of India has extended the free ration distribution scheme for providing some sort of relief to the poor people.
The government distributes free foodgrains to rural people through dealers. Every panchayat selects a dealer to distribute the free rations smoothly. Now, these dealers are not distributing the proper amount of foodgrains to the poor people. The local dealers take 500 grams to 1 kg as commission for providing a free ration. Surprisingly, they do not feel ashamed of being corrupt but rather say openly that they have to take a commission for providing it to the rural people when all the cost of distribution of food grains is being incurred by the government itself. It is an example of open corruption like termite that eats the bones of poor people.
The incident has been reported by a local mobile reporter in Harinagar Panchayat, Darbhanga district, Bihar. Satyendra Narayan Singh, a dealer supplying free rations to the poor people of Panchayat, said in an interview blatantly, “Every dealer takes the commission to provide free rations in the district. There is nothing new. There are some dealers who take 1 kg commission, but I am just taking 500 gms.”
Dealer went on saying, "We do not receive in proper amount; therefore, it becomes problematic to give an exact amount what the government promises.” Hearing the statement, a local named Laganji reacted loudly. He said, “We have no options available to complain about it. The local administration remains silent on the corruption issue.”
Interestingly, it happens in a state whose chief minister has been branded as Sushasan Babu (one who runs administration honestly and efficiently) for the last 20 years.