1. MANTHAN TOPIC
PLUGGING THE LEAKS
IMPROVING REACH AND EFFICIENCY OF
PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
TEAM DETAILS-
Aishwarya Singh
Shubhangi Gupta
Harshad Joshi
Virendra Singh Ranawat
Jasneet Namdhari
2. Is Public Distribution System a
failure?
Public Distribution System is a failure in
many parts of the country. How? Why?
And, How would it not be?
3. Main reason of failure of PDS
What job does the Government do?
Government effectively plans as for
how the distribution of food grains is
to be made.
Implements by providing funds
and authorizing people.
However, planning fails when
government fails to follow up, i.e. see
whether things are working in
planned way or not.
Government
PLANS.
IMPLEMENTS
the plans.
But, does not
FOLLOW UP!
4. Challenges
For this planning failure, the government strictly needs
to keep a check over activities which are illegal.
Some of those illegal activities are-
A. Storage Problems.
B. Corruption.
C. Illegal Diversion.
D. Leakages.
5. Storage related Problem
Present Scenario
Solution
20-30% of the total food
grain harvest is wasted due
to lack of availability of
storage capacity.
Huge amount is Spoiled by
rodents, insects and
moisture.
Perishable goods are easily
spoilt.
Build additional storage
capacity.
Upgrade the existing state
owned warehouses.
6. Illegal Diversion
Problem
Users often do not get their rightful entitlement in terms of quantity.
What's meant for them is diverted to the open market. This happens at the
beginning of the chain itself. To much extent, this is due to Corruption.
Solution
The online progress of the stock inventory with the personal accounts of the
people who are being sold the goods should be provided.
The amount and weight of goods that were recorded at the time of the
departure from the warehouses and should be further checked with the
amount and weight of goods received at the time of its delivery on ration
shops.
There should be a online national database that could tell about the exact
amount of goods at a particular ration shop.
This Would lead to reduced the misappropriation in the amount of the grains
and thus, efficient Public Distribution System.
7. Leakages
Present Scenario Solution
Prevalence of Ghost Cards
- Maximum amount of food
grains goes to people above
poverty line.
0.12 reaches to poor of every
Rs. 1 invested.
Diversion of subsidised
grains to unintended
beneficiaries.
Responsibility on the part of
government, which includes
Identification of families
Below Poverty Line.
Supervision and
monitoring of the
functioning of Fair Price
Shops through reliable
channels.
8. Procedure of selection of BPL beneficiaries
Opaque & Bureaucratic Transparent & Public
Does not involve
Gram Sabha
Should involve Gram
Sabha
This is leading to? This would lead to?
Bribes and
Corruption
Improved efficiency
of PDS
WHAT IS? WHAT SHOULD BE?
9. Over charging of Subsidised Grains
Low Quality food grains are often overcharged by 10-14
% of the Official Prices.
To overcome this Problem, there should be a step from
the side of government to remove unawareness as
unawareness is the main reason behind this problem.
So government should create awareness.
But, HOW?..
10. Crating Awareness through
Television- Television should be made a medium of
communication. It should include use of local
language, so it’s easy for all to understand.
Pamphlets- Pamphlets should be issued stating all the
information relating to grains, they are entitled to.
It could be quantity or price.
Also, there should be an official price list of grains at
every Fair Price Shop which should be shown to
consumer.
11. Camps- This task of creating Awareness among Poor
should be in such a way that it serves most purposes. It
includes making people aware about Their Rights.
What are their Rights?
-Entitlement to grains.
-Help in case of violation of their first right.
Many people do not know that there exists something
called Consumer Court and Remedial Cells.
They should be given proper knowledge.
Local leaders- Local leaders, for every locality, should
be made. Government officials should be in proper
touch with them and should regularly take reports
from them.
