SMART-PDS, a technological driven initiative should be implemented in all States/UTs: Union Minister

Source: The post is based on the article “SMART-PDS, a technological driven initiative should be implemented in all States/UTs: Union Minister” published in PIB on 2nd March 2023.

What is the News?

The Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution have said that all states should implement SMART-PDS at the earliest.

What are the steps taken by the Government in the PDS System?

Automation of Fair Price Shops,

Direct Benefit Transfer (Cash): where food subsidy is directly credited to the account of the beneficiaries,

Aadhaar Seeding in PDS: To weed out duplicate/in-eligible/bogus ration cards and to enable rightful targeting,

Digital/Cashless/Less-cash Payments in fair price shops,

End to end computerization of food grain procurement, storage, transport, and distribution,

One Nation One Ration Card plan was implemented to support the migrant population,

Scaling up of rice fortification,

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana(PMGKAY)  amongst others.

What are the steps recommended by the Union Minister for states to implement in PDS System?

SMART-PDS: It is a system where smart ration cards are issued to beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System(PDS) and ration is given through fair price shops on the production of the smart ration card by any member of the beneficiary family.

– The fingerprint template of the beneficiary is recorded in these smart ration cards, which record all transactions.

Command Control launched by Andhra Pradesh for PDS: AP Government has launched ​​India’s first-of-its-kind Central Command Control Centre to monitor the Public Distribution System (PDS) from procurement of grains to their distribution to households.

Use Millets: All the states have been urged to learn from the best practice of using millets in schemes like ICDS, midday meal and PDS in Karnataka which is helpful in adding nutrition and promoting a healthy diet.