Transparency in public distribution system through digitization: A study on consumer satisfaction

The Public Distribution System (PDS) of India is one of the largest welfare schemes in the world. PDS was introduced after 2nd World War due to severe food shortages in the country. Initially, the subsidy was common to all. In 1990’s, PDS was restructured to include hilly and inaccessible areas. Finally, the scheme was moved with a targeted approach and is known as Targeted PDS (TPDS). Under Essential Commodities act 2001, Public distribution system order was passed. It governs rules regarding identification of beneficiaries and commodities to be included for PDS. Department of rural Development through BPl survey decides criteria for inclusion or exclusion of beneficiaries. Finally, individual states identify the beneficiary households. Central govt. allocates food grains as per list prepared by NITI Aayog (erstwhile Planning Commission) based on families of BPL category to each state. Enactment of Food security Act, 2013 has done away with the need for BPl based identification. Computerization and other technology- based reforms to TPDS have succeeded in plugging leakages of food grains. It is important to mention the e-PDS project of Chhattisgarh government which has real time GPS monitoring from depots to the FPSs. has shown an encouraging result. Most states have now digitized their PDS to pass on subsidy benefits to targeted group of beneficiaries. The objective is that the Cash transfers can directly improve the economic lives of poor, and raise economic efficiency by reducing leakages and market distortions. Central government Data Center to host the beneficiary database and all other crucial MIS needs by the Department. The Central Data Center could be linked with the State Data Center (SDC) being setup under the National E-Governance Action Plan (NEGAP) and the State Wide Area Network (SWAN).