• UGI USER
  • Jul 27, 2023
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Q.The Public Distribution System in India has shown laudable improvements, however in the context of migrant workers and those still left out, it needs multiple adjustments. Discuss.

Approach:

  • Give a brief introduction about the improvements in PDS in India in recent times.
  • Discuss the problems of migrants and people who are excluded otherwise are facing in the current PDS system.
  • Highlight the modifications that are needed to be done in the PDS system to address these
  • Provide a brief conclusion.

Answer:

PDS has shown laudable improvements. From 2004-05 to 2011-12, the number of Indian  households reported buying food grains from fair price shops doubled. The National Food Security  Act (NFSA) of 2013 further broadened the scope of PDS by raising the level of subsidies and  expanding coverage.

Further, there have been considerable reductions in leakages especially in low income states such  as Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh etc. It has been found that citizens received nearly 90% of  the subsidized grains to which they were entitled.

  • Still, the PDS has been plagued with many issues among which the biggest concern is that of the exclusion of beneficiaries due to migration or otherwise.
  • Since the existing PDS system is tied to place of origin, migrant workers are not able to access their entitlements. Further, the cost of getting a ration card in their place of work deters them to  apply for one.
  • Moreover, large numbers of people, especially among vulnerable groups such as widows and the elderly, found themselves excluded owing to connectivity and Aadhaar-based biometric  authentication failures.
  • At some places, exclusion is also because of diversion of food, illegal cards, information asymmetry between shop owners and consumers etc. leading to lack of access to full  entitlements by the households.
  • Over 10 crore people have been excluded from the PDS because outdated 2011 census data is being used to calculate NFSA coverage.

Thus, PDS needs multiple adjustments in following ways:

  • Portability of benefits: There is a need to adopt One nation, One ration card system to ensure portability of benefits – both intra- state and inter-state – thereby not affecting access to food of  migrants adversely.
  • Divisibility of entitlements: Along with portability, divisibility of entitlements of a family is also required to allow migrant workers and others separated from their families to avail the  PDS to ensure food security.
  • Provision of information: Publicly available information on time and quantity of grain release prevents the possibility of exclusion by dealers or other brokers due to the lack of availability of
  • Adoption of technology: Digitisation of beneficiaries’ list can aid in fast identification as well as reduce inclusion and exclusion errors. Further, denial of services due to Aadhaar-authentication  failure should be prevented by ensuring availability of non-biometric means of authentication  (such as OTP or PIN), as well as manual overrides.
  • Identification of beneficiaries: To reduce exclusion due to outdated data, SECC data can be used, which is more broad-based than census to ensure a relatively better coverage.
  • Strengthening grievance redressal mechanisms: It is essential to implement solutions for  real-time measurement of beneficiary experiences.

Thus, the Government must take steps to strengthen correct identification of beneficiaries,  improving food grains off take, greater monitoring and vigilance, improving viability of fair price  shop operations, etc. to improve access to PDS.