• Public distribution system (PDS) is a government-sponsored chain of shops entrusted with the work of distributing basic food and non-food commodities to the needy sections of the society at very cheap prices.
• Wheat, rice, kerosene, sugar, etc. are a few major commodities distributed by the PDS.
• It is managed by Food Corporation of India (FCI).
• Recently, a review of performance reports published by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2021 and 2022 shows a massive drop in leakages and errors.
• The Department of Food and Public Distribution, which is responsible for the PDS received 1,005 complaints of corruption.
• In the 1980s, it was said that out of every rupee spent by the government, only 15 paise reached the intended beneficiary.
• It was a reflection of the massive challenge of leakages in public distribution.
• However, in the last decade, Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and the Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) programs have achieved great results.

Significance of Public Distribution Governance

• Establishing a reliable public distribution was a difficult task, especially in a country as vast and populous as India.
• The federal structure also introduced varied complexities.
• Since the starting of DBT in 2013, ₹28 lakh crore has been transferred through the route.
• During covid lockdown ₹5.5 lakh crore was transferred.
• In 2021, DBT had generated a total savings of ₹2.2 lakh crore for central schemes alone due to the removal of 94 million duplicate, corrupt, or non-existent beneficiaries across databases.
• The PDS and similar schemes contributed about ₹1 lakh crore in savings by removing about 40 million fake accounts.
• The Ujjwala Yojana scheme alone resulted in savings of ₹72,000 crore.
• Money saved implies more spending, newer schemes and further inclusion.
• Evidence of financial inclusion is the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which has enrolled over 480 million beneficiaries with accumulated savings of over ₹189,000 crore in February.
• This implies that the poor now have funds for food, take care of emergencies, and potentially invest too.
• Digitisation has streamlined the transfer process, resulting in substantial time savings, reduced errors and cost of governance and eliminated malpractices.
• The quick digital transfer process has enhanced trust in the system and has increased the money in circulation by reducing money inventory at various points.

Suggestions to improve Public Distribution Governance

There are still opportunities to enhance India’s public distribution governance by following points.

Strengthen the technical infrastructure

• It is crucial to strengthen the technical infrastructure and provide further transparency.
• There have been some instances in the past such as the lack of traceability of maternity benefit payments, issues reported in the PM-Kisan Yojana, or Aadhaar’s de-duplication functionalities which need addressing.
• The databases also need continuous clean-ups, including further biometric verifications at every point.
• Technical and operational gaps leading to inclusion or exclusion errors must be plugged to ensure the money reaches the intended beneficiaries.

Need proper Identification of beneficiaries

• Over 80 million Jan-Dhan accounts in 2022 were declared inoperative.
• This is a major burden on the banks, and suggests that several beneficiaries are not availing their rightful benefits.
• Thus, there is a need to track and reactivate such accounts.
• While JAM has brought the rural poor within the ambit of the banking system, issues such as the lack of access to a Confirmation of Payee (COP), network failure and point-of-sale malfunctions have led to a high number of dormant or low-activity accounts.

Need for Simplification of beneficiary identification

• The discovery of and access to benefits could be eased further.
• Enrolling in government schemes is complex due to varying eligibility criteria, and the multitude of documents and identity requirements.
• Similar to how foreign governments rely on just one Indian document, the passport, various departments and states should also rely on just one document or ID.
• Simplification will allow superior beneficiary identification as well as enable deeper analytics for sharper targeting of schemes to those who need them the most.

Need for broad assessment for design and prioritization of benefits

• The design and prioritization of benefits could be assessed more broadly from the transfer of money to the needy to empowerment in broader ways.
• Jan Samarth is a step in the right direction to enable easy access to government credit schemes for individuals and small and medium enterprises.
• It is high time the government considers extending DBT as the sole means of distribution.
• A wealth of data on the impact of government schemes and citizens’ feedback could inform the design and implementation of future policies.
• This will strengthen the foundation for a new and revolutionary era in public distribution governance.

 The PDS is a cornerstone of government policy responding to nutrition and food security. The PDS may not be able to eliminate the issue of malnutrition and childhood morbidity or mortality in India, but it can reduce the levels of hunger in India if implemented effectively. If PDS is improved effectively it can solve global hunger issue because India ranks 107th on Global Hunger Index out of 121 countries. To decrease the leakage of food grains there is need proper Collecting biometric information of all cardholders in a household. There is a need to track several beneficiaries which are not availing their rightful benefits.