Lok Sabha Question No. 1685 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-13
Subject: Awareness Generation Programmes
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Gaurav Gogoi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1685

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13TH DECEMBER, 2023

## AWARENESS GENERATION PROGRAMMES

## 1685n SHRI GAURAV GOGOI:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER  AFFAIRS, FOOD  AND PUBLIC

DISTRIBUTION w+Itn  wii, @r© gk IIT#ifqq f+vat THt be pleased to state:

- (a) whether awareness generation programmes were organized by the Government to sensitize eligible beneficiaries and PDS dealers of the nitty-
- gritties of the scheme;
- (b) if  so, the details of such programmes in the FY 2020n21, 2021-22, 2022-23, State-wise;
- (c) whether the Government is aware that households in the past have experienced 1.3 times as many transaction failures and 4 times as many denials compared to  those collecting rations from  their  respective
- registered centre; and
- (d) if so, the details of steps taken by the Government to deal with poor connectivity, biometric authentication issues and other such technological problems that  were the  primary reasons for  households experiencing transaction failures  under this  scheme and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

- (a) & (b): The Department of Food & Public Distribution (DFPD) provides funds to the State/UT Governments under  the project titled  'Financial Assistance  to the States for Generating Awareness amongst TPDS beneficiaries about their  entitlement and redressal mechanism' for undertaking awareness campaign to  sensitize the  Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) beneficiaries and the  media about the initiatives taken by Department of Food & Public Distribution to ensure food and nutritional  security  for the  poor and vulnerable people. Funds released by the Department of Food &  Public Distribution(DFPD) to States/UTs & Central Organizations for awareness programme during last  3 years are as below:

| S. N.                                    | States/UTs/CBC     | Financial Year   | Funds Released (Rs. In Lakhs)   |
|------------------------------------------|--------------------|------------------|---------------------------------|
| Karnataka                                |                    |                  | 7.98                            |
|                                          | a esh              |                  | 1 .00                           |
| Tripura                                  | 2020-21            |                  | 8.00                            |
| Bureau of Communication 4                | Outreach and (BOC) |                  | 65.96                           |
| Central Bureau Communication 5           | of 2021 -22        |                  | 1 4.22                          |
| Communication                            |                    |                  | 85.00                           |
| (CBC/BOC) Arunachal Pradesh              | 2022-23            |                  | 6.40                            |
|                                          |                    |                  | 8.00                            |
| Tripura West Bengal                      |                    |                  | 8.00                            |
| Kerala                                   |                    |                  | 8.00                            |
| e                                        |                    | 2023-24 (as on   | 8.00                            |
| M izoram 12                              |                    | 2023-24 (as on   | 8.00                            |
| 13 Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) | 06.1 2.2023)       | 2023-24 (as on   | 1 4.27                          |
| TOTAL                                    | TOTAL              | TOTAL            | 242.83                          |

In  addition, the  Department has  taken  following initiatives for generating awareness and inform the public on extending the distribution of free foodgrains to all  ration cardholders across the country.

- i. Pan-India awareness campaigns of  Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna  Yojana (PMGKAY)  and  One  Nation One  Ration Card  (ONORC) on TV Channels, FM  Channels and social media have been undertaken u
- ii. Inter-department collaboration for publicity  amplification of PMGKAY for information dissemination on social media has been undertaken.
- iii. Ministry of  Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has  installed PMGKAY banners/hoardings at 1 000 fuel retail outlets.
- iv. More than 6 crore SMSs have been delivered on mobile numbers of beneficiaries and FPS dealers across States/UTs.
- v. 15 workshops for  awareness generation of  ONORC have been conducted across states/UTs in India.

(c) & (d): As part of the PMGKAY this Department allocates foodgrains to  States/UTs for distribution to around 80 crore beneficiaries in the country on a  monthly basis. Furtherj due to  Aadhaar seeding and installation of ePoS devices at the FPSs, at present, around 98% of total ePoS transactions in  the  country are done in  a transparent manner through biometric Authentication on a monthly basis.  All States/UTs have been advised that  no genuine beneficiary or  household shall be denied from receiving entitled quota of free of cost foodgrains only for want of Aadhaar or due to failure of biometric/Aadhaar authentication due to  network/connectivity/linking related  issues, other  technical reasons, or  poor  biometrics of  the  beneficiary. Hence, bio-metric identification enables  distribution  of foodgrains to the genuine beneficiary.

As per provisions of this Department's Aadhaar Notification dated 8 February 2017, till  the Aadhaar is assigned to the beneficiaries,  either of the eight identification docurnents shall be used for  identification purpose (i.e.Voter ID Card, PAN  Card, Passport, Driving License, Certificate of Identity with  photo issued by Gazetted Officer/Tehsildar on official  letter  head, Address card  having Name and  Photo issued by Department of  Posts, Kisan Photo Passbook and any other  document as specified by State/UT Governments). Also, the timeline given to  all States/UTs for  linking  of  Aadhaar numbers of  beneficiaries  with  their ration  cards has been extended  upto 31/12/2023.

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