Lok Sabha Question No. 5092 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-27
Subject: Implementation of PDS/TPDS/AAY
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: SHIVAJI ADHALRAO PATIL, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT, PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE, ANANDRAO  ADSUL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5092

TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 TH  MARCH, 2018

## IMPLEMENTATION OF PDS/TPDS/AAY

5092. SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL:

SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT: DR. PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE:

Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  implementation  of  Public  Distribution  System(PDS),  TPDS, Antyodaya  Anna  Yojana  has  been  badly  affected  due  to  theft  of  foodgrains, corruption in fair price shops and frequent changes in licence holders of fair price shops;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  remedial  measures  taken  in  this regard including cases registered and action taken against the officials involved;
- (c) whether  there  is  any  proposal  to  introduce  food  coupons  and  smart  card system for preventing diversion of foodgrains;
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether the Government has received any investigation reports on modus operandi used to siphon off BPL rations and other subsidies;
- (f) if so, the factual position in this regard; and
- (g) whether biometric identification and use of scanners to authenticate BPL ration  cardholders  will  prevent  loss  of  subsidized  food  and  if  so,  the  manner  in which the conclusion was arrived at?

## A N S W E R

MINISTER OF STATE FOR  CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

- (a)  &  (b):  Public  Distribution  System  (PDS)  is  operated  under  the  joint responsibility  of  the  Central  and  State/UT  Governments.  Central  Govt.  is responsible for procurement, allocation and transportation of foodgrains upto the  designated  depots  of  the  FCI.  The  operational  responsibilities  for allocation and distribution of foodgrains within the States/UTs, identification of  eligible  beneficiaries/families,  issuance  of  ration  cards  to  them  and supervision and monitoring of functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) rest with the  concerned  State/UT  Government.  An  offence  committed  in  violation  of the provisions of TPDS (C) Order, 2015 is liable for penal action under the

Essential  Commodities  Act,  1955.  Thus,  the  Order  empowers  State/UT Governments  to  take  punitive  action  in  case  of  contravention  of  relevant provisions of these Orders. Statement showing details of action taken by the State/UT  Governments  under  relevant  clauses  of  the  PDS/TPDS  (Control) Orders from January 2015 to December, 2017 is given below.

| Year   |   Number of inspections |   Number of raids conducted |   Number of persons arrested/ prosecuted/ convicted |   Number of FPS Licenses suspended/ Cancelled/ Show cause notices issued/FIR Lodged |
|--------|-------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2015   |                  573113 |                       43546 |                                                1499 |                                                                               15176 |
| 2016   |                  543938 |                       65358 |                                               11408 |                                                                               11687 |
| 2017   |                  202723 |                       20270 |                                                5927 |                                                                                3569 |
| Total  |                 1319774 |                      129174 |                                               18834 |                                                                               30432 |

(c)  &  (d):  There  is  no  proposal  under  consideration  in  the  Department  to introduce food coupons and smart card system.

(e)  to  (f):  The  nature  of  complaints  relate  to  untimely  supply  of  foodgrains, leakage/diversion,  inclusion/exclusion  errors,  poor  quality  of  foodgrains, bogus/ineligible ration cards being in circulation,     irregular functioning of FPS, beneficiaries not getting their entitled quota of foodgrains, allotment of fair  price  shops  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  etc.  As  and  when  complaints  are received  by  the  Government  from  individuals  and  organizations  as  well  as through press reports, they are sent to concerned State/UT for inquiry and appropriate action.

(g): To identify and weed out duplicate/ ineligible beneficiaries from PDS, and to enable rightful targeting of food subsidies, the States/UTs have been asked to seed available Aadhaar numbers of eligible beneficiaries/ households in their ration cards and install e PoS devices at the Fair Price Shops with the facility for the biometric authentication of the beneficaries. States/UTs  are  reported  to  have  cancelled/deleted  2.75  crore  cards  during 2013-17. Introduction of biometric authentication has helped in the process.

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