The document proposes innovations to improve India's Public Distribution System (PDS) by plugging leaks and diversions. It suggests a new hierarchy with states procuring grains within themselves and partnering for exchanges. Innovations include IT, infrastructure improvements, and local participation. Responsibilities would be distributed between central, state, district and local distribution centers. Funding would initially come from central government but savings from reduced leakage and surplus grain exports could fund further improvements like biometric identification. Challenges include state opposition to reduced autonomy and need for training, but the solutions aim to better achieve PDS objectives.

1. SparksInc .
(Apoorvaa,Aditi,
Anubha, Prachi, Sakshi)
PLUGGING THE LEAKS IN PDS -
INNOVATIONS TO SPARK THE CHANGE

2. Biggest in the world & yet riddled with the most
flaws - Problems with the current system
PDS – The "Aandata" Solution

3.  Every state does not have a designated FCI godown
 Most states have private wholesale delivery method of
cooperative wholesale dealer
 No direct delivery to remote areas of most states
 Lifting of stock is done by private transportation agencies
 FPS is not viable at villages with population less than 500 due
to slack on the part of FPS owner& irregular inspection in
remote small areas
 Transport charges are to be bared by FPS owners which in
turn is reflected in the cost of grains
 Key posts like district controller, district inspector are vacant
in many districts especially tribal lands

4. Solution proposed – A Snapshot

5.  New hierarchy of powers
 state to source food grains from within itself,
 partnership b/w 2 states for mutual exchange of commodities
 central ministry as a strict, guiding parent
 Innovations to plug leakages & diversions
 IT
 Infrastructure
 Local participation at grassroots level
 involvement of Gram Panchayats/Municapility, NGOs, State officials,
trained people sourced from the intended beneficiaries of the scheme
 Centre approved framework
 to be followed strictly by each state, no privatization in any work

6. The Hierarchy of Offices

7. CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT
State
Department of
food and
Distribution
State department
of food and
Distribution
State Department
of food and
Distribution
District Supply
Officer’s Office District Supply
Officer’s Office
District Supply
Officer’s Office
Block Supply
Officer’s Office
Block Supply
Officer’s Office
Distribution
Centre
Distribution
Centre
Distribution
Centre
Distribution
Centre
Block Supply
Officer’s Office

8. 1. Procurement
2. Distribution
3. Administrative distribution of
responsibilities
4. Funding
Implementation of new PDS

9. 1. Procurement & Storage

10. CENTRE
1.to maintain database of
farmers from whom grains are
procured – addition/deletion
of profiles to be done on an
yearly basis
2.Minimum support price for
the buying of food grains and
other commodities to be fixed
scientifically by a panel of
economists appointed by the
Ministry, in conjunction with
other departments
FCI
1. to store only surplus food
grains as stock for
preparedness against future
national emergencies/disaster
relief programmes
2. to provide godowns as
buffer zones for the use of
partner States to store the
commodities to be exchanged
3. to have a store of carbon
fibre structures that can be
dismantled and transported
and set up in any open space,
to store excess food grains
efficiently in the event of lack
of storage space, wherever
needed.
STATES
1.to procure the quota of
grains from the farmers within
their states directly and store it
in the State-owned godown
that is nearest to the site of
production/procurement of
the grains
2. to procure required
commodities which the State
has a lack of from its partner
State, and store it in either FCI
godowns or State level
godowns or DC godowns

11. 2. Distribution

12. DISTRIBUTION
CENTRE
No privatization -> members
to include NGO + Gram
Panchayat
members/Municipal members
+ State appointed official +
trained members from the
local community
A local building in the area
which the particular DC
serves, to act as DC stock
godown
Biometric system + smart
cards + automatic teller
machines that open only at the
swipe of the smart card & bio
print combinations & dole out
specified quantity of ration
All transactions of
incoming & outgoing
rations at the DC to be
recorded into the
centralized database
STATE FOR ITS OWN
Monitor the movement of
food grains from
production sites to DC
godown sites
Monitor and inspect the
working of DCs.
PARTNERSHIP OF
MUTUAL ADOPTION
BETWEEN A PAIR OF
STATES
Source commodities
which the State has a lack
of, from its partner State
and send these to
appropriate DCs.

13. 3. Administrative distribution of
responsibilities

14.  Distribution Centre
 Supply of commodities to the consumers
 Storage of food grains, as sent by the State transportation service
 Running of awareness campaigns and manpower training
programmes for local people to involve them in the running of the
DC, by the associated NGO of that DC
 Send fortnightly reports to the State Department
 District Supply Officer’s Office
 Have a separate official for looking into consumer complaints and
grieviences from the DCs that come under their district
 Have a separate official that conducts fortnightly inspections at each
DC within their district; surprise inspections can happen anytime
 Send fortnightly reports to the State Department

15.  State Department of Food and Distribution
 Procure food grains from farmers of own State and make transportation
arrangements to send these to each Distribution Centre godown in the State
 Keep stringent checks on whether the DC Inspection officers and Consumer
Grievance Redressal officers maintain their schedules or not.
 Maintain contact with the State Department of its partner state
 Send monthly reports to the Ministry
 Central governance
 Ministry of ConsumerWelfare, Food & Distribution
 sanctions for finding the poverty line on the basis of National Census data( to be
revised every 10 years with each new census)
 sanctions committee to fix minimum paying price to farmers from whom grain is
procured directly by their respective State governments, every 2 years – more
frequently in case of national emergency of some sort (eg: drought, flood, etc.)
 Oversee the execution of the Memorandum of Understanding for mutual help
signed between partner states for exchange of commodities that one partner lacks
and one partner has surplus of.

16. 4. Funding

17. 1. Initially, the Centre will have to invest funds to create the software
system for monitoring.
2. The leakages and diversions get plugged due to stringent
monitoring and involvement of people at the grassroots, leading to
atleast 10% of the total spending of around Rs. 7000 crore on PDS
3. The infrastructure proposed costs only Rs. 6000 per 300 sq. feet
carbon fibre – dismantlable godown
4. The saving of surplus grains (60% of the annual produce) from rot
in this way means that the country can engage in more export –
leading to more revenue
5. The money so earned & saved can be invested in improving the
system further and to implement the biometric system of
identification

18. Impact of the solution

19. 1. Due to involvement of local people at the grassroots, a
better inventory can be kept of whether or not the genuine
participants get their rightful quota
2. Due to elimination of a long hierarchy of storage &
procurement, close to 10% of the Rs. 3014 crore spent on
delays and transportation alone are saved
3. Better system of monitoring due to involvement of a
centralised Database.
4. The two-fold objectives of PDS – up-liftment of farmers &
reduction of under-nutrition and malnutrition in the
country – have a better chance of being achieved.

20. Challenges & Risks

21. 1. Opposition by the state government as it is losing its autonomy in
distribution
1. may find it unsuitable to negotiate with another state with
central govt. as the negotiator so they loose monopoly over
their crop produce
2. may find there powers reduced
2. Complete mechanization can be opposed on the basis of lack of
funds to protect their inherent problem of earning profits from the
money of the needy
3. Biggest menace of our nation corruption mechanization ensures no
leakage of items since at all levels a complete check is maintained.
For ex installation of grainATMs & biometric identification
completely eliminates mixing & leakage at intermediate levels.
4. The system requires proper trained skilled people at all levels so
this training needs time & resources

22. Also includes our thanks to the people without
whom we could not have done this!
References
Because the problems are many & diverse but no problem is unsolvable.
Even the word“Impossible”says“I m Possible”
Every system has some commendable aspects & some loopholes.

23. People :
1. Dr. KCTripathi,Asst Professor, IPEC, Ghaziabad
2. Mrs. Deepa Choudhary,Asst Professor, IPEC, ghaziabad
Papers/Web publications :
1. Wadhwa Committee Report on Public Distribution System in India
2. Performance Evaluation ofTargeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)
(Planning Commission 2005)
3. Asia Development Bank
4. LSE India Blog
Jai Hind!