India has placed a lot of emphasis on
improving the functioning of Public Distribution System in the country through
automation of Fair Price Shops, computerization of Supply Chain Management and
enforcement of provisions of National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 regarding
oversight and grievance redressal in partnership with States/UTs.
Steps
taken by Government of India for better targeting, Transparency and
Accountability.
Automation
of Fair Price Shops: Based on the pilots and learnings from the
States/UTs, in November 2014 Department of Food & Public Distribution
prescribed the guidelines and specifications for use of PoS at FPS. At present
2,04,162 FPSs (as on 15th May 2017) out of 5,26,377 have PoS.
Direct
Benefit Transfer (Cash): “Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy Rules,
2015” were notified on August 21, 2015 under which food subsidy is directly
credited to the account of the beneficiaries. At present Chandigarh, Puducherry
and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (in few urban areas) are implementing this scheme.
.
.
Aadhaar
Seeding in PDS: To weed out duplicate/in-eligible/bogus
ration cards and to enable rightful targeting 77.56% i.e. about 17.99 crore
ration cards (as on 15th May 2017) have been Aadhaar seeded. Under Section-7 of
the Aadhaar Act 2016, the Department has notified the use of Aadhaar to receive
subsidized foodgrains or Cash transfer on 8th February 2017.
Deletion
of ration cards: As an outcome of digitization of Ration
Cards/beneficiary records, de-duplication due to Aadhaar seeding,
transfer/migration/deaths, change in economic status of beneficiaries and
during the run-up to and implementation of NFSA a total of 2.33 crore ration
cards have been deleted/cancelled. Based on this the Government has been able
to achieve Rightful Targeting of Food Subsidies of about Rs 14,000 Crore per
annum.
Digital/Cashless/Less-cash
Payments in PDS: To promote the use of less-cash/digital
payment mechanisms, the Department has issued detailed guidelines for use of
AePS, UPI, USSD, Debit/Rupay Cards and e-Wallets on 7th December 2016. At
present in 10 States/UTs a total of 50,117 FPSs are enabled for digital
payments.
Automation
of Fair Price Shops: On the basis of pilots and learnings from the
States/UTs, in November, 2014 Department of Food & Public Distribution
prescribed the guidelines and specifications for use of PoS at FPS.
.
.
New
central sector scheme ‘Integrated Management of PDS’ (IM-PDS): The
scheme has been approved with an outlay of Rs. 127.3 crore to be implemented
during FY 2018-19 and FY 2019-20 for establishing Public Distribution System
Network (PDSN) to establish central data repository and central monitoring
system of PDS operations and to also enable implementation of national level
portability.
The
recent initiative of Village Mall Scheme aimed at improving the viability of
Fair Price shops. To set up Village Malls in the FP Shops, the State Government
of AP.
No comments:
Post a Comment