Rising People’s Party Demands Public Disclosure of Tide-Over Rice Beneficiaries in Nagaland

Kohima, Apr 5: In the interest of transparency and accountability, the Rising People’s Party would like to request the Commissioner & Secretary, Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Nagaland, to publicize the list of beneficiaries under the Tide-Over category within 10 days.

As per RTI documents, the department claims not to have the names of beneficiaries under the Tide-Over category which is surprising because as per the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, letter no. F.NO.15-33/2015-NFSA dated 7th December 2015, the states are directed to “digitize beneficiary database and upload in the state portal before the implementation of the NFSA, 2013”.

Again as per the Ministry’s letter no. F.No. 15-62/2022-NFSA dated 27/01/2023, it states that “The state government shall place the list of the identified eligible households in the public domain and display it prominently.”

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Again, another strange claim of the department is “The distribution of rice is done by the stockiest themselves.” Be as it may be, the stockiest/handling agents/ carriage contractors should be having the names of the beneficiaries, and therefore the department is requested to upload these names in public domain, such as department website, state portal, etc.

The matter is serious because the issue pertains to the distribution of 3, 17, 563.04 MT of Tide-Over rice issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, to the state between the years 2018 – (October) 2024.

(This is a press release, issued by the Rising People’s Party on April 6, 2025)