You are the officer-in-charge responsible for monitoring allotment of foodgrains under the Public Distribution System to BPL families in a given district. A group of BPL families in the district claim that they have been denied ration from fair price shops due to non-linking of Aadhar card with their BPL cards. They remark that the government and officers concerned are not empathising with their situation and stage a silent protest. Further, the incident is also being linked to similar instances in other areas of the country where people were denied access to PDS benefits due to similar reasons. The government receives a lot of criticism for this incident on social media networks. You are now in a conundrum, as you are aware that the BPL families need to get foodgrains on time. However, as a government officer, you also need to follow the prescribed rules. Media scrutiny has further aggravated the situation and you realize you need to tread carefully. Based on the information above, answer the following: (a) List the issues in the given situation that the parties involved are facing. (b) What step(s) will you take in the situation to ensure that the demands of the aggrieved persons are met without violating the rules? (c) In this context, briefly discuss how the poor in the country currently face digital exclusion and its consequence(s).

Answered by 2 toppers · CSE 2018–2020

Syllabus: Case Studies on above issues.