In reply to a question in Lok Sabha on April 21, 2008, the Food and Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar admitted that while a total of 102.8 million ration cards against BPL (below poverty line) people were issued, there were actually in the country only 65.2 million BPL families. It means that 37 million below poverty line-card holders or as much as 35 per cent of India's total number of beneficiaries under public distribution system do not exist in actuality. The acknowledgement of the government only strengthens the already revealed evidences that there exists rampant misuse of food subsidy for purposes other than supporting the targeted beneficiaries of the system. It may be recalled that a statistical study commissioned by the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution regarding data on percentage diversion of PDS food grains from as many as 21 out of 32 States and Union Terrotories of India, including Assam, where for the last three years from 2004-05 to 2006-07, 96 per cent of wheat and 100 per cent of rice, meant for people below poverty line (BPL) leaked out to open market sales had disclosed the episode of dirty business in December, 2007. According to the report, the leaked out PDS food grains in 2006-07 alone were worth Rs 31,586 crore in the country from the quantum meant for the 250 million BPL people. What was astonishing to the people of North East India is that not a single grain of wheat could reach the targeted poor of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagland and Sikkim, while 96 per cent got siphoned off in Arunachal Pradesh. Whereas Manipur suffered the disgrace of 97.7 per cent of rice allocation being leaked out, Nagaland, closely followed with 88.6 per cent. The