A miniscule 1% of both rural and urban households?even in states like Orissa and Bihar, which have some of the poorest districts in the country ?are buying essential commodities from the public distribution system (PDS), Lack of availability and poor quality of products could be one of the main reasons why more and more people are shying away from the PDS and going the open market even if the prices are higher, an official said.

If National Sample Survey Organisation?s report on PDS for 2004-05 is anything to go by, PDS sugar was bought by less than 1% of both the rural and urban households in Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand. In Orissa and Uttar Pradesh, only about 2% households bought PDS sugar.

Nationwide, households buying sugar from PDS was 16% in rural areas and 12% in cities. The consumption of PDS sugar, however, was high in Tamil Nadu, Assam and Andhra Pradesh.

Another interesting consumption pattern that the survey highlighted is the fact that majority of the households in Punjab and Haryana did not use kerosene from any source.

Over 55% of rural households used PDS kerosene, with West Bengal (91% in rural and 60% in urban areas), followed by Chattisgarh (rural 86%, urban 41%) and Rajasthan (rural 84% and urban 35%) topping the list.

Consumption of PDS wheat was common in Karnataka (46% user in rural and 15% in urban area), rural areas of Gujarat (29%) and Maharashtra (26%) and relatively common in urban areas of Karnataka (14.6%) and Kerala (12%).

But consumption of PDS wheat was less than 1-2% in major wheat consuming states like Punjab and Bihar.

In case of PDS rice, the common users were Tamil Nadu (rural 79%, urban 48%), followed by Andhra Pradesh (rural 62%, urban 31%). Even in Gujarat and Maharashtra, where rice is not a major cereal food, 32% and 28% of rural households, respectively, bought PDS rice.

In other major rice-consuming states like West Bengal and Assam, the use of PDS rice was very marginal. Ration cardholders in Tamil Nadu, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, were major consumers of PDS rice.

The survey said that at the all-India level, 81% of the rural and 67% of the urban households had ration cards. BPL cards were held by 26.5% of rural and 10.5% of urban households.

Antyodaya card holders formed less than 3% of rural and 1% of urban households.