By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 21, 2024: THE Government of India has undertaken several measures to reform the Public  Distribution System (PDS), focusing on digitization, transparency, and efficient  distribution mechanisms. These efforts have resulted in substantial reductions in  leakages and enhanced targeting.

On Supply side, the Supply Chain Management System has been adopted and integrated for end-to-end operations and services at all levels of Food Corporation of India (FCI) organisation, Development of Central Food Procurement Portal (CFPP) for streamlined MSP operations, implementation of Warehouse Inventory Network and Governing System (WINGS) application to automate tagging of mills with depots, as well as allocation of stack space in FCI, Vehicle Location Tracking System (VLTS) innovative with integration with Railways for online real time tracking of food consignment and WDRA registration of all FCI Godowns.

On the distribution side, the Department of Food and Public Distribution has computerised entire distribution process covering all 20.4 Cr household ration cards covering entire 80.6 Cr beneficiaries. These ration cards have been digitised along with 99.8% of ration cards and 98.7% individual beneficiaries being Aadhaar-seeded. Foodgrain distribution is operationalised through 5.33 lakh e-PoS devices, covering nearly all Fair Price shops in the country. These e-PoS devices enable Aadhar authentication of beneficiary during distribution process enabling principle of rightful targeting. Today Aadhaar authentication is used for distributing approx. 98% of total foodgrains, reducing leakages to ineligible beneficiaries and mitigating any risk of pilferage.

The Department has also taken extensive steps for ensuring rightful targeting through process of eKYC which validates identities of beneficiaries with their Aadhar credentials  and ration card details leading to exclusion of ineligible beneficiaries. As of today, 64% of all PDS beneficiaries have completed their eKYC and the process is in full swing to  complete eKYC for remaining beneficiaries. For convenience of beneficiaries, the department has facilitated eKYC of beneficiary at any Fair Price Shop (ration shop) across the country. Digitalization and Aadhar seeding have led to de-duplication of ration cards and approx. 5.8 Cr ration cards have been removed from PDS system, ensuring only eligible persons are included in PMGKAY/NFSA.

National Portability of ration card under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) initiative has ensured regular availability and accessibility of free foodgrains to all 80.6  Crore NFSA beneficiaries in any part of the country, through the same existing ration card, irrespective of the state/district from where the ration card was issued. These highlighted measures along with Aadhaar-enabled safeguards ensure robust &  transparent PDS operations. Through digitization, rightful - targeting, and supply chain  innovations, the Government of India has set a global benchmark for state sponsored food security initiatives. The actions by Government of India underscore its commitment  to plug leakages in the system and minimise inefficiency.