The doors of rural development minister Jairam Ramesh were knocked at again on Thursday afternoon by a group of people from Kotkasim, Rajasthan, as a part of the three-day protest demanding comprehensive enactment of the National Food Security Act. The protest, which began on Thursday, is being staged by the Right to Food Campaign and other organisations at Jantar Mantar.

The group from Kotkasim in Alwar district was ‘lucky’ to be a part of an experiment by the government to see how effective cash transfer was? The results of the experiment though are from the hypothesis of the government, or so can be inferred from what is told by these villagers.

As a part of the experiment in Kotkasim, farmers were told to buy kerosene at regular market price, the subsidy for which would be deposited in their bank accounts. This however, locals say, is far from what is happening on the ground. “Only 56% of the households have bank accounts but the experiment is being conducted for a year now,” shared Ashok Khandelwal, advisor to the commissioners of the supreme court and one of the persons on the panel that visited Ramesh.

The group failed to meet the minister who was in a hurry to leave for a Rajya Sabha meeting but promised to listen to them on another day.

“Our key demand is to scrap cash transfer immediately. Nobody is prepared for it, neither the people nor the government. Banks, too, seem to be unprepared,” said Khandelwal.

But for many who had come to be a part of the dharna from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi, cash transfer was a priority that was only third on a list that was topped with lack of identity proof. “We bigger problem before us (migrant labourers) is lack of identity cards,” said Ritu Singh of Nari Shakthi, Gurgaon.

Drawing from her own experience, 38-year-old Lakshmi Jha, said, “I have been working as a daily wage worker in Delhi for the past seven years, but have no identity proof at all.” Stating that she has approached a number of authorities in the city to help her obtain an ID proof, Jha added, “I have always been told that work along these lines was not being done now and that I would be called later, but this never happened.”

The fact that UID is being linked to the cash transfer scheme is hence drawing a lot of criticism from the civil society and the common people. “Linking the schemes can cause major disruption,” says a report with the campaign clarifying its critique on the UID-driven cash transfer plan.

Inflation is another cause of worry. “Rates will keep escalating,” shares Ragini Devi, a 30-year-old daily wage labourer from Bihar who works in Delhi, adding, “When we get ration, at least we are assured there is food in the house, no matter what the prices are in the market, but with cash being given, food at subsidised rates will no longer be available for us and our families.” Voicing her concern, she posed a question to the government, one that is shared by her peers, “How can I buy flour for a month which would be enough for my family of 10 with the cash (Rs 600 a month) the government is proposing to offer?”

Stating that cash transfer in itself was not an issue considering that it was being done in the case of pension for the elderly, Harsh Mander, member, NAC said that the problem here was that cash transfer was being proposed as a substitute to food. “If public distribution system shuts down, what will happen to our farmers?” he asked.

Khandelwal said, “The entire cash transfer system being proposed will dismantle the whole food security system that is in place now and has taken decades to reach where it is today.” Highlighting the major role to be played by private parties, he said, “The entire food system in our country through things like cash transfer and foreign direct investment would be in the hands of private players and the government would lose its power to regulate prices.” But why would the government then vouch for such proposition in the first place? “Maybe there are vested interests,” said Khandelwal.