Public Distribution System is a very important scheme for providing food security to the poor
and needy. The success of this scheme like all other schemes however depends on proper targeting. Because of the huge subsidy involved and also because of the large number of fair price shops complaints of leakages and diversion are common.
In Chhattisgarh an end to end solution based in information technology has been developed and implemented with very encouraging results.
Computerisation of Total Food Grain Supply Chain
The case study is complete process computerization of food grain supply chain in Chhattisgarh from paddy procurement from farmers, its storage, milling and distribution of rice and other commodities to 3.7 million ration card holders through 10,416 Fair Price Shops (FPS). As a part of this project, 1532 Paddy procurement centres, 50 storage centres, all district offices concerned, 99 Civil Supplies Corporation distribution centres and 35 FCI rice receiving centres have been computerized covering six different organizations involved in food grain management.
Call centre with a toll free number 1800-233-3663 is operational from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM to take complaints from citizens and give any desired information about paddy procurement and public distribution. Citizen interface web site is hosted to increase the citizen participation in controlling diversion of PDS commodities. The project can be described in four distinct areas which complete the process computerization of whole food grain supply chain and its monitoring.
4.1 Paddy Procurement and Milling
Paddy is procured from about 1 Million farmers of Chhattisgarh at MSP at 1532 procurement centres spread throughout the state.Paddy procurement at these centres is done through computers. Paddy Procurement Centres are mainly located at village panchayat level and connectivity is not available at most of these centres. Hence a form based stand alone module has been developed for online purchase of paddy and issue of paddy to millers, storage centres and FCI. Cheques for payment to farmers and delivery memos for movement of paddy to different places are printed on computer at real time.
Special importance has been given to on-the-spot generation of cheques on computers as it reduces the delay in payment to about one million farmers.
1532 data entry operators, who are local to the society, were recruited and trained on the operation of PACS Module. An interesting innovation of data transmission through motorcycle riders has ensured near real time data transmission from purchase centres to the central server and vice versa. V-SAT based NICNET connectivity is available in Chhattisgarh at block headquarters in the offices of Janpad Panchayats.
250 Motorcycle riders have been hired to carry data everyday from procurement centre computers to block headquarters, where they upload the data on the central server through the internet. Similarly any new version of software and delivery order details are downloaded from the server at the block level by these motorcycle riders, and carried to the procurement centres.
All operations carried out by the district level offices such as collector office, DMO of MARKFED and DM of CGSCSC as well as head quarters are computerized through web based applications. At all the 50 storage centres of MARKFED, 2 computers each were installed with a form based module to receive and issue paddy. 70 Custom Milled Rice (CMR) receiving centres of CGSCSC (subset of 99 distribution centres) and 35 CMR receiving centres of FCI are using a web module to generate sample slip, analysis report and acknowledgement report .
4.2 Unified Ration Card Database and issue of PDS commodities to Fto FPS
Unified Ration Card database has been prepared. The ration cards are printed using the database. Only
those ration cards having a unique number and a barcode printed through that database, are valid now in Chhattisgarh. Since the entire ration cards database has been computerized shop-wise allocations have now
been automated. Per card allocations are fed into the computer at the State level. Shop-wise allocations are
calculated by the software. All Fair Price Shops are required to give declaration of their stocks and sales in
the previous month before issue of PDS commodities. These figures are entered in the web application at
CGSCSC warehouses. Based on allocation, stock and sales figures of FPS, the actual amount of PDS
commodities to be issued to the FPS is calculated by the software, and a delivery order is issued on the web
application. After the issue of the delivery order a truck challan is issued indicating the truck number,
driver’s name, quantity dispatched etc. The truck challan is also generated using the web application. Thus
information regarding allocations, stocks, issue and sales for each FPS is now available on the central
server. At least 10% of this data is physically verified by the staff of the food department every month, and
action is taken against any FPS giving false declarations.
4.3 Citizen Participation web-site
Citizen awareness and participation in the public delivery system is a major check against diversion and
leakage. Hence a citizen interface website has been created. One can lodge complaints, give suggestions.
This web-site also provides a method of citizen participation to check diversion of trucks carrying PDS commodities to FPS from warehouse. Citizens can register their mobile numbers on this web-site by
selecting one or more FPS of their interest, for participation in the monitoring of PDS. Whenever PDS
commodities are dispatched to the FPS from the warehouse an SMS is automatically sent to the registered
mobile numbers. This message has the truck number, the quantities of PDS commodities being sent by that
truck, and the date and time of dispatch (Figure 1). Thus any one can know exact date and time of truck
dispatch with quantities of commodities. Citizens participating in monitoring of PDS can then check
whether that truck arrived at the FPS carried full quantities dispatched. They can even get PDS
commodities unloaded and stored in the FPS in their presence. If commodities do not arrive at the FPS in
full quantity within reasonable time, citizens can register their complaint at the website or through call
centre.
4.4 Call centre and Complaint Monitoring System
A call centre with a toll free number 1-800-233-3663 is operational. The complaints received by call centre
are immediately entered in the system and the complaint number is given to the complainer for further use.
All the registered complaints either through call centre or through internet are seen in the inbox of officer
concerned login. The officer is supposed to enter the details of enquiry report and action taken on
complaints found correct. The status of the complaint is informed to the complainer on demand. Complaint
redressal is monitored at directorate and secretariat level for speedy disposal of complaints.
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