India 'fair price' shops attacked

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta

The government subsidises the cost of rice and wheat for the poor

Mob violence against dealers of government-licensed "fair-price shops" has spread to at least three districts in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Thousands of dealers have surrendered their licences after the protests.

Angry crowds set on fire six shops on Wednesday in protest at corruption in the public food distribution system.

So-called fair-price shops, commonly known as ration shops, operate under licence from the state government to sell subsidised grain to India's poor.

Tear gas

Police fired on a mob at Ketugram in Burdwan district on Wednesday. Locals say one villager was killed and at least three others were injured in the firing, but police have not confirmed the deaths.

All this is going to affect the political support base of the left in rural West Bengal Political analyst Sabyasachi Basu Ray Choudhuri

A district official said at least 10 rounds were fired by police as they baton-charged the protesters and discharged tear gas shells to stop them from attacking dealers of two fair-price shops.

Locals in Ketugram allege that the local "fair-price" dealer has not been providing them with cheap grain for 17 months.

On Wednesday, six "fair-price shops" - two each in Bankura, Birbhum and Burdwan districts - were set on fire by angry mobs.

This follows similar attacks against at least 17 dealers over the last two days in these three districts.

The "fair-price shops" are the backbone of India's public distribution system.

The government provides them with licences to procure grain and other essentials such as kerosene, in order to sell it to the rural and urban poor at rates which are supposed to be much cheaper than the open market.

'Insecure'

West Bengal's poor track record on the theft of public grain is second only to that of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, the authorities say.

Protests against "fair price shops" erupted in Bankura on 15 September, when thousands of angry villagers attacked dealers in the villages of Sonamukhi and Kotalpukur.

Since then, the violence has spread.

The West Bengal government has now cancelled the licences of 40 dealers and sued many of them for embezzlement.

About 1,300 dealers of "fair price shops " in Bankura district have closed down their shops, saying they had no intention to continue in business as they felt "insecure".

That may seriously affect the availability of food grain in the district in the same month as the big Hindu Durga Puja festival and the Muslim Eid festival.

Analysts say the incidents are a source of major embarrassment for West Bengal's left-wing coalition government - in power since 1978 - which usually prides itself on the issue of food security in rural areas.