The document proposes solutions to improve the reach and efficiency of India's Public Distribution System (PDS). It identifies key issues like only 10% of intended benefits reaching the poor and 43% being illegally diverted. The proposed solutions are: (1) Training 3355 volunteers to track food grain distribution in 671 districts; and (2) A Public Distribution Portal System for monitoring. This will address the main cause of non-viability of Fair Price Shops leading to diversions. The solutions will require Rs. 15.48 crore in funding and have benefits like empowering volunteers, improving distribution, and reducing corruption in PDS. Challenges around stakeholder buy-in, volunteer willingness, and literacy are also addressed

1. PANCHITA SAIKIA (team co-coordinator)
DEEPJYOTI KALITA, SAURABH SARMA, ARIJITA DUTTA, ANUBHA BARUAH
DON BOSCO COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, GUWAHATI
TEAM DETAILS
THEME: PLUGGING THE LEAKS: IMPROVING
REACH AND EFFICIENCY OF PDS

2. The food grain stock s available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stand at an all time high of 62 million tonnes. Still
there are millions of people who die out of hunger every year..
Tormenting conditions of Indian food security-
 Deserving Poor are not benefitted by the PDS system in India:
 Poor are only getting 10 % of intended benefit offered by PDS system.
 Non poor people are getting more benefit than the poor ones:
 19% of subsidy goes to non poor.
 43% goes to the illegal diversion.
 28% goes to the administrative expense.
 Conclusion of the Fair Price Shops:
 23 % of all Fair Price Shops(FPS) couldn’t survive due to the leakage
and diversion .
 It is evident from the above statistical data
that 210.8 million tonnes food grain
production was done during year 2003-2004,
still India was at an alarming rate of 20.0-
29.9 at the Global Hunger Index.
 Even today, the scenario has not much
changed as “57% of the PDS food grain does
not reach the intended people” (UIDAI).

3. Our proposed solution for Plugging the leaks of PDS in India
Causes of the problem Already proposed solutions Our proposed solution/initiative
Inclusion Error: This is caused due to
inclusion of people who are not eligible
into BPL (Below poverty line) and AAY
(Antodoya Anna Yojna) category.
Ghost Cards: Bogus ration cards in the
name of fictitious owners, is a serious
problem causing significant leakages as it
does not reach the intended
beneficiaries. This is estimated to be
around 16.7%
Shadow Ownership: This is caused due
to migrant families in search of work not
able to avail their quota or poor families
due to paucity of funds keep the ration
cards with FPS owners or others to avail
credit or get small portions of cash.
due to non viability of FPS’s rations go
to black market & they declare
unavailability of the stock in the store
Smart card: A solution for public
distribution system problem.
Vigilance squad should be
strengthened
to detect corruption.
•Personnel-in-charge of the department
should be chosen locally.
•Margin of profit should be increased for
honest business, in which case the
market system is more apt anyway.
•F.C.I. and other prominent agencies
should provide quality food grains for
distribution.
•Frequent checks & raids should be
conducted to eliminate bogus and
duplicate cards, which is again an added
expenditure and not fool proof.
Reason 4 Selecting the cause:
The selected cause: The non viability of FPS,
which leading to main diversion & leakage of
PDS.
Reason: Since the other reasons like ghost card,
shadow ownership etc. are more of a
centralized business, there is not much of a
solution that we can provide to abolish it. And
since the Benchmark Solutions for eg:
( 1:Take over the shops.
2:Taking legal action against the shop owner
3:Ensuring viability of FPS’s.
4:Integrating it with UIDAI for efficient
5:monitoring through computerization )
provided by the Govt. takes a long duration to
be implemented , we have proposed two
solution for plugging the leaks of PDS. They are-
 1: Training of Total of 3355 volunteers in India
and appointing them to the 671 districts of
India to track the buying and selling of food-
grains( from the Govt. to the poor people).
 2: Establishment of the Public Distribution
Portal System, for smooth running of the
proposed solution.

4. Monitoring Mechanism through the volunteers appointed and the Newly introduced Portal system for poor people’s welfare.
Indian Government
Central Head Organisation
2684 Co-ordinator Volunteers in random
villages under 1 District. (4 Co-ordinator
Volunteers in each District besides the one
Chief Volunteer)
671 District Head Organisations with
1 Chief Volunteer in each District
Head Organisation
FPS with vendors keeping records of amount of foodgrains
transferred to their shop and amount of food sold to poor
according to the price fixed for people of BPL, APL , etc.
The final record prepared by the head
person of C.H.O and sent to the Indian
Government for survey.
Vendors have to once in a month visit the
Volunteer In-charge of that village to submit the
report of food-grains supplied to their shops and
the amount of food-grains sold to the people of
BPL, APL, etc.
All the co-ordinator volunteers must submit all
the reports to the District Head of the villages.
All the 671 District Organisation/volunteers
must submit the data/reports to the One
Central Head Organisation for further survey.
“For every Rs 4 spent by the
Govt. ,only Rs 1 reaches the
poor”
The success of these 2
proposed solutions will
change the scenario.

5. Implementing Portal System: the second proposed Solution.
The Government governing the Head Portal System.
The C.H.O controls the main functioning of the Portal System.
Its arteries lies in the 671 Districts governed by the chief volunteers.
Each District provide its villages and its people with the facility of online portal
system for registering online complaints against the culprits, for demanding justice,
monitoring the food grains they deserved or requesting help to the head
organization i.e C.H.O.

6. TRAINING CRITERIA C.H.O DISTRICT HEADS CO-ORDINATORS
QUALIFICATION Experienced Government
employee with enough
knowledge about PDS
system.
Graduate person between
the age of 25-35 years with
good personality.
10+2 pass youth (18+) with
good communication skill
and active nature.
VENUE OF TRAINING Government colleges,
Schools,
Government Institutional
buildings
Government offices, etc
TRAINING MODULES
(Initially for three months)
Handling of internet
services, reports, Portal
system- introduced as a
solution to poor people’s
welfare.
Monitoring and tracking of
food grains transported.
Data analyze, statistical
calculation and IT knowledge
in the guidance of the CHO.
Monitoring and tracking of
food grains transported.
Data Xeroxing, report making
on distribution of food,
knowledge about computer,
communication in the
guidance of District Heads.
Tracking of supply of food-
grains.
SELECTION OF VOLUNTEERS Working skill in the past job. Knowledge and willingness
about the whole work.
Communication skill and
smartness.
description of key steps involved in implementing the solution.

7. Cost of computerization to the volunteers:
[2684 X INR 5000] Total: INR 13420000
Co-ordinator Volunteers:
[2684 X (INR 30000 for three months)] Total: INR 80520000
District Head Volunteers: ( at initial stage)
[671 X (INR 50000 for 3 months)] Total: INR 33550000 (for three months)
Computerization for 671 District head and One C.H.O
[(671+1) X INR 40000] Total: INR 26880000
Other expenditure
•Cost of establishing Portal System :
INR 5 Lakhs
Total cost: INR:
154870000
Financial resources or total funding required from the Government at each step.
A total amount of INR 15 Crore 48 Lakhs
70 thousand is estimated for the
Proposed initiative for Plugging the leaks
And improving reach and availibility of
Food by the Public Distribution System.
Since it is a prosed solution whose success
can impact the 1.27 Billion population of
India and the poor and almost 50% of the
youth population, therefore Govt. must
take the initiative of sanctioning the
required minimum funds for the
betterment of the country.

8. Proposed source(s) of Funding
Sponsorship from the some groups or organization.
The profit made by the whole process-
Government is spending 750 billion per year in PDS and according to the data only about
190 billion is reaching the poor. If the proposed process is able to make a profit of only
5% , i.e. 37.5 billion, this money will be enough to run the proposed process. Also
followed by-
• Media support.
• Initiative help by NGOs
• Government funding.
Scalability of the given solutions:
The sustainability of the solution will depend upon the willingness of the volunteers to
give their best.
It will depend upon the quality of work they provide.

9. The proposed Plan will effect the 1.27 billion people of
India positively:
Volunteer Network:
 1 Head Volunteer of the Central Head
Organisation.
 671 District Head Volunteers.
 2684 Co-ordinator Volunteers recruited
in random villages of each District.
Training and skills imparted to them:
Knowledge of keeping computerized records.
Skill of Dealing with the Portal System.
Knowledge about working plans of Govt.
Knowledge about geography of India, as in
number of villages, districts etc.
Ability of tracking amount of food-grains
supplied to FPSs and amount of it sold to
poor.
Additional Benefits:
By training the volunteers of India, we are
indirectly playing major role of increasing future
job prospects of the youth, thus diminishing
unemployment.
We can impart work experience to the volunteers
by increasing their future job prospects.
Volunteers will obtain a livelihood fom the Govt. in
return of their service.

10. Facing the challenges:
Stakeholders :
1:Local village head’s tie-up with the
government personnel, officers in the village.
2:NGOs tie up with the C.H.O and District Heads.
3:District Head’s tie-up with the District Blocks.
4:Awareness campaign with the help of Media.
(Media tie-ups with the C.H.O and the
Government of India)
Implementation Challenges:
1:Government may not see the viability of
sanctioning the required amount for the cause.
2:Volunteers may not be willing to work in
villages. Sometimes they might show laid back
attitude.
3:If village youths are appointed for the same,
they might not be literate enough to meet the
requirements for the cause.
Benefits:
1: Proper distribution of food grains.
2: Good value for the expenditure made by the government in PDS.
3: Lessen of corruption in PDS and a relatively fast solution to the problem of poor
people.
4: Some of unemployed youth will get employment.
5:Poor people will get to know their own rights.

11. CITATIONS
• UIDAI- Unique identification authority of India.
• C.H.O- Central Head Organisation.
• AAY- Antodova Anna Yojana
• BPL- Below poverty line
• APL- Above poverty line

12. REFFERENCE
• Unique identification authority of India.
• Performance evaluation organization. (2005). Performance evaluation of targeted
public distribution system. New Delhi: Planning Commission.
• Public distribution system by TENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN 2002-2007.
• National Food Security Bill BY COMMISSION FOR AGRICULTURAL COSTS
AND PRICES, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture,
Government of India.
• HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION IN INDIA: STATUS, CAUSES AND CURES BY
Association of Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development (AVARD) .