Introduction:
The Public Distribution System (PDS) has evolved as a strategy to manage scarcity by distributing food grains at affordable prices, becoming a crucial element in the government’s efforts to ensure food security in the country.
Body:
PDS Meeting Objectives of Food Security for the Poor:
- It has played a role in stabilizing food prices and making food accessible to economically disadvantaged groups at reasonable prices.
- Beneficiaries encompass landless laborers, marginal farmers, rural artisans/craftsmen (like potters, tanners, and blacksmiths), slum dwellers, destitute individuals, and those in the informal sector earning a livelihood on a daily basis in both rural and urban areas.
- Special provisions cater to supplementary nutrition for pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children aged 6 months to 14 years, along with subsidized food grains for 75% of the rural poor and 50% of the urban poor.
- Trailing in GHI Ranking: India ranks 111th out of 125 in the 2023 Global Hunger Index, scoring 28.7 based on indicators like the undernourished population and children suffering from wasting and stunting.
Issues Associated with the Program:
- Identification of beneficiaries and social exclusion: Targeting mechanisms like TPDS have demonstrated susceptibility to significant inclusion and exclusion errors.
- Lack of an efficient management framework: Challenges such as leakages, diversion of food grains, inclusion/exclusion errors, fake ration cards, and a weak grievance redressal and social audit mechanism plague the Public Distribution System.
- Nutritional Insecurity: The predominant focus on food grains like rice and wheat fails to address prevalent protein and micronutrient deficiencies in India.
- Inconsistent Quality: Recipients commonly report inconsistent quality in the provided rations, with complaints mainly regarding the poor quality of wheat.
Way Forward:
- Improving Storage Capacities: Enhancing storage capacities is imperative to ensure proper storage of procured food grains for PDS schemes.
- Vigilance Committees and Social Auditing: Implementing vigilance committees and social auditing at various levels can help curb corruption and leakages, and ensure nutritional quality.
- Eliminating Exclusion Errors: Temporary ration cards for a period of six months with minimal checks, as recommended by experts like Abhijeet Banerjee and Raghuram Rajan, can help eliminate exclusion errors.
- Nutritional Security at Large: Adding staple foods widely consumed by the poor is a promising approach to addressing nutritional deficiencies in this population segment.
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