NEW DELHI: The Central Government is planning to introduce an electronic voucher-based public distribution system (PDS) aimed at reducing leakages, addressing grievances, and increasing transparency.
Under this new system, beneficiaries will receive an itemised voucher that they can use to purchase items from any fair price shop (FPS) across the country.
This will give beneficiaries the freedom to select quality items in exchange for an E-Rupi voucher, which the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) will prepare in collaboration with the State Bank of India and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) as the technical partner.
E-Rupi will be delivered to beneficiaries via SMS or QR code. It will not be legal tender but will act as a digital currency equivalent, redeemable only for specified food commodities.
The vouchers will be Aadhaar-linked, non-transferable, and valid for a specific month.
The DFPD has drafted a concept note, which has been reviewed by The New Indian Express (TNIE), recommending that the scheme be implemented as a pilot project in at least one rural and one urban district for three months.
After this period, an evaluation will be conducted over the following month, after which the scheme may be scaled up over the next 6-12 months with further refinements.
Earlier in November, TNIE reported that the Government of Gujarat had submitted a concept note outlining a "Gujarat Model" aimed at digitising the PDS and making it more auditable and transparent.
However, this new model has faced opposition from the national FPS Dealers' Association, which sees it as a strategy to eliminate PDS dealerships permanently.
The association claims that the new system will compromise the rights of consumers, farmers, and dealers. The note states that previous reforms aimed at streamlining the PDS have failed to address last-mile challenges.
The government has introduced Aadhaar authentication, electronic point-of-sale devices, and the One Nation, One Ration Card framework.
Under the current PDS, beneficiaries face issues such as underweight rations, poor-quality grains, and dealer monopolies that limit their choices.
Additionally, manual reporting creates opportunities for manipulation, while the lack of real-time beneficiary acknowledgement hampers transparency.