Public Distribution System in India

Public Distribution System in India

• Public Distribution System (PDS) is a food Security System established under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution by the govt. of India

       

PDS is public rationing system of India.

India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) is the largest distribution network of its kind in the world.

PDS was introduced around World War II as a war-time rationing measure. In 1960s due to food insecurity, the government set up the Agriculture Prices Commission and the Food Corporation of India to improve domestic procurement and storage of food grains for PDS.

By the 1970s, PDS had evolved into a universal scheme for the distribution of subsidised food.

In 1997, the government launched the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), with a focus on the poor. TPDS aims to provide subsidised food and fuel to the poor through a network of ration shops.

Food grains such as rice and wheat that are provided under TPDS are procured from farmers, allocated to states and delivered to the ration shop where the beneficiary buys his entitlement. The centre and states share the responsibilities of identifying the poor, procuring grains and delivering food grains to beneficiaries

Evolution of PDS in India:

• PDS was introduced during World War II as a war-time rationing measure. Before the 1960s, distribution of food grains through PDS was generally dependant on imports.
• In the 1960s the government set up the Agriculture Prices Commission and the FCI to improve domestic procurement and storage of food grains for PDS. It was a measure taken by the govt. in response to the food shortages in India at that time.
• PDS evolved into a universal scheme for the distribution of subsidised food by the 1970s. It was a general entitlement scheme for all consumers without any specific target until 1992.
• Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was launched by the Government in 1992. It helps to strengthen and streamline PDS and improve its reach in remote and inaccessible areas.
• The Indian Government launched the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) to focus on the poor in 1997. The beneficiaries were divided into 2 categories: Households below the poverty line or BPL and Households above the poverty line or APL.
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was launched in 2000 to make TPDS aim at reducing hunger among the poorest segments of the BPL population.
• The National Food Security Act, 2013 was enacted by the Parliament in 2013 to deliver food grains as legal entitlements to poor households. This makes the right to food a justiciable right.

Objectives

• It helps to ensure Food and Nutritional Security in the nation.
• System of minimum support price and procurement help to contribute to the increase in food grain production.
• It helps in stabilising the food prices and making them available to the poor at affordable prices.
• It also helps to maintain the buffer stock of food grains in the warehouse so that food remains available even during the period of less agricultural food production.
• It helped in the redistribution of grains by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to deficient regions.

 

How PDS system functions?

§  The Central and State Governments share responsibilities in order to provide food grains to the identified beneficiaries.

§  The centre procures food grains from farmers at a minimum support price (MSP) and sells it to states at central issue prices. It is responsible for transporting the grains to godowns in each state.

§  States bear the responsibility of transporting food grains from these godowns to each fair price shop (ration shop),

§  The beneficiary buys the food grains at the lower central issue price. Many states further subsidise the price of food grains before selling it to beneficiaries.

 

Importance of PDS

• It helps in ensuring Food and Nutritional Security of the nation.
• It has helped in stabilising food prices and making food available to the poor at affordable prices.
• It maintains the buffer stock of food grains in the warehouse so that the flow of food remain active even during the period of less agricultural food production.
• It has helped in redistribution of grains by supplying food from surplus regions of the country to deficient regions.
• The system of minimum support price and procurement has contributed to the increase in food grain production.

 

 

Issues Associated with PDS System in India

• Identification of beneficiaries: Studies have shown that targeting mechanisms such as TPDS are prone to large inclusion and exclusion errors. This implies that entitled beneficiaries are not getting food grains while those that are ineligible are getting undue benefits.
  
  

According to the estimation of an expert group set up in 2009, PDS suffers from nearly 61% error of exclusion and 25% inclusion of beneficiaries, i.e. the misclassification of the poor as non-poor and vice versa.

• Leakage of food grains: (Transportation leakages + Black Marketing by FPS owners) TPDS suffers from large leakages of food grains during transportation to and from ration shops into the open market. In an evaluation of TPDS, the erstwhile Planning Commission found 36% leakage of PDS rice and wheat at the all-India level.
• Issue with procurement: Open-ended Procurement i.e., all incoming grains accepted even if buffer stock is filled, creates a shortage in the open market.
• Issues with storage: A performance audit by the CAG has revealed a serious shortfall in the government’s storage capacity.
  
  

Given the increasing procurement and incidents of rotting food grains, the lack of adequate covered storage is bound to be a cause for concern.

• The provision of minimum support price (MSP) has encouraged farmers to divert land from production of coarse grains that are consumed by the poor, to rice and wheat and thus, discourages crop diversification.
• Environmental issues: The over-emphasis on attaining self-sufficiency and a surplus in food grains, which are water-intensive, has been found to be environmentally unsustainable.
  
  
• Procuring states such as Punjab and Haryana are under environmental stress, including rapid groundwater depletion, deteriorating soil and water conditions from overuse of fertilisers.
• It was found that due to cultivation of rice in north-west India, the water table went down by 33 cm per year during 2002-08.

PDS Reforms

• Role of Aadhar: Integrating Aadhar with TPDS will help in better identification of beneficiaries and address the problem of inclusion and exclusion errors. According to a study by the Unique Identification Authority of India, using Aadhaar with TPDS would help eliminate duplicate and ghost (fake) beneficiaries, and make identification of beneficiaries more accurate.
• Technology-based reforms of TPDS implemented by states: Wadhwa Committee, appointed by the Supreme court, found that certain states had implemented computerisation and other technology-based reforms to TPDS. Technology-based reforms helped plug leakages of food grains during TPDS.
  
  
• Tamil Nadu implements a universal PDS, such that every household is entitled to subsidised food grains.
• States such as Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have implemented IT measures to streamline TPDS, through the digitisation of ration cards, the use of GPS tracking of delivery, and the use of SMS based monitoring by citizens.

Way Forward

§  PDS is one of the biggest welfare programmes of the government, helping farmers sell their produce at remunerative prices as well as the poorer sections of society to buy food grains at affordable rates.

§  Its effectiveness can be enhanced with technology based solutions as is evident from some of the states’ successes towards the same. Shifting towards DBT is another idea, but with caution.

o   In its report on State finances, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised States that are planning to shift to cash transfer to be cautious while effecting the migration.

o   Economic survey 2016-17 also highlighted the need for more caution and better infrastructure while replacing subsidised PDS supplies with DBT.

§  Strengthening of the existing TPDS system by capacity building and training of the implementing authorities along with efforts to plug leakages is the best way forward.

§  It can be further strengthened by the increased public participation through social audits and participation of SHGs, Cooperatives and NGOs in ensuring the transparency of PDS system at ground level.

§  To enhance the nutritional level of masses, bio-fortified foods need to be distributed through the PDS that will make it more relevant in the backdrop of prevalent malnutrition in India.