New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Rajasthan government regarding the painting of “I am poor” by state officials on the walls of at least 50,000 houses of families who are below the poverty line (BPL), reported the Hindu.
According to media reports, on June 22, BPL families in Sikrai and Bandikui tehsils who received subsidised food grains were asked by local authorities to paint “I am poor” on their walls. In some cases, the signs were seen painted multiple times on the wall of the same house. The government had said that the reason behind this exercise was to stop the alleged misuse of schemes by “relatively well-to-do” families.
“We have to suffer this humiliation for 10 kgs of wheat. It has become difficult to hold our head high,” a resident told the Hindustan Times.
The NHRC has noted this to be in violation of the Right to Dignity of those who are beneficiaries of the scheme and asked for a report to be submitted within a month, along with details of the action taken against those officials who were involved in this. “No civilised society would ever appreciate such an imprudent and irrational act of the state authorities,” the NHRC statement said.
K.C. Sharma, additional collector from Dausa, who said the district administration had not passed such an order, told Hindustan Times last week, “The zila parishad could have issues the directive as there were complaints of misuse of the Food Security Act by those who are not eligible. I will look into this complaint.”