Lok Sabha Question No. 78 (STARRED), answered on 2016-03-01
Subject: Evaluation of PDS
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: AJAY NISHAD, SUNIL KUMAR MONDAL

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 78

TO BE ANSWERED ON 01 ST  MARCH, 2016

## EVALUATION OF PDS

## *78. SHRI AJAY NISHAD:

SHRI SUNIL KUMAR MONDAL:

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 Government has evaluated/reviewed the performance of the Public Distribution System (PDS)/ Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), if  so,  the details and the outcome thereof indicating the shortcomings detected therein and the corrective steps taken thereon;
- (b)   whether the Government has directed the States to review the list of beneficiaries and the Ration Cards issued in order to detect ineligible beneficiaries and weed out fake cards;
- (c)   if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  response  of  the  States  thereto
- along with the reasons for non-compliance, if any, State/UT-wise;
- (d)   the  rules  regarding  the  renewal  of  the  BPL  and  the  APL  lists  at present; and
- (e)   whether  the  Government  proposes  to  introduce  smart  cards  to check  fake  cards,  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  response  of  the States thereto?

## A N S W E R

MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI RAM  VILAS PASWAN)

- (a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (e) OF THE STARRED QUESTION  NUMBER  *78  DUE  FOR  ANSWER  ON  01.03.2016  IN  THE  LOK SABHA. (a): This  Department  has  been  getting  the  functioning  of  Targeted  Public Distribution  (TPDS)  evaluated  by  different  agencies  from time to time. Recently,  an  evaluation  study  of  the  functioning  of  TPDS  has  been  got conducted through National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in respect  of  6  States  namely  Assam,  Bihar,  Chhattisgarh,  Karnataka,  Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The evaluation study has revealed certain shortcomings/deficiencies in the functioning of TPDS such as inclusion/exclusion  errors  and  leakages/  diversion  of  foodgrains,  details  of which are at Annex-I & II.  The  report  received  has  been  sent  to  the  States concerned for taking necessary remedial measures to remove the deficiencies noticed in the functioning of TPDS. (b)  &  (c):  In  terms  of  the  Public  Distribution  System  (Control)  Order,  2001, State/UT Governments are to review the lists of BPL and AAY families every year for the purpose of deletion of ineligible families and inclusion of eligible families. Similarly as per Clause 4 of the TPDS (Control) Order, 2015 State/UT Government shall make all endeavours to eliminate bogus or ineligible ration cards  as  a  continuous  exercise.  The  exercise  of  deletion  of  bogus/ineligible cards  and  inclusion  of  eligible  families  is  a  continuous  process  and  State Governments are to periodically carry out the same. The Statement showing the  number of bogus/ineligible ration cards deleted by State/UT Government with effect from July, 2006 onwards is at Annex -III. (d): There is a provision in the National Food Security Act,2013 as well as PDS(Control) Order,2015 that the State Governments shall update the list of eligible households, within the number of persons determined, in accordance with the guidelines framed and place the list of the identified households in the Public domain and display it prominently. (e): Under  the  NFSA,  States/UTs  are  being  encouraged  to  set  up  AADHAR based  authentication  of  beneficiaries  for  distribution  of  food  grains  through point  of  sale  devices  or  direct  cash  transfer  into  beneficiary's  accounts,  in order to ensure proper targeting of eligible persons.

********

## ANNEX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.*78 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 01.03.2016 IN THE LOK SABHA

## Inclusion/Exclusion errors indicated in NCAER Report:

(Study awarded - March,2014) (Report submitted- September,2015)

|   Sl. No. | State         |   Inclusion Error (in %) |   Exclusion Error (in %) |
|-----------|---------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
|         1 | Assam         |                    28.49 |                    70.84 |
|         2 | Bihar         |                    18.38 |                    30.45 |
|         3 | Chhattisgarh  |                    22.09 |                     1.93 |
|         4 | Karnataka     |                    31.24 |                    16.02 |
|         5 | Uttar Pradesh |                    22.16 |                    63.12 |
|         6 | West Bengal   |                    46.6  |                    29.77 |

## ANNEX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.*78 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 01.03.2016 IN THE LOK SABHA

## Figures of leakages/diversion of foodgrains (rice & wheat) indicated in NCAER report.

(Study awarded - March,2014) (Report submitted- September,2015)

## NFSA states

|   S. No. | State        |   Leakage (in%) |
|----------|--------------|-----------------|
|        1 | Bihar        |           16.28 |
|        2 | Chhattisgarh |            6.95 |
|        3 | Karnataka    |           17.34 |

Non- NFSA states

|   S.No. | State         | Card category   |   Leakage (in %) |
|---------|---------------|-----------------|------------------|
|       1 | Assam         | APL             |            70.68 |
|       1 | Assam         | BPL             |            36.76 |
|       1 | Assam         | AAY             |            12.13 |
|       2 | Uttar Pradesh | APL             |            35.29 |
|       2 | Uttar Pradesh | BPL             |            32.87 |
|       2 | Uttar Pradesh | AAY             |             5.13 |
|       3 | West Bengal   | APL             |            38.75 |
|       3 | West Bengal   | BPL             |            28.19 |
|       3 | West Bengal   | AAY             |            10.59 |

****

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## ANNEX-III

## ANNEX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) & (c) OF STARRED QUESTION NO.*78 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 01.03.2016 IN THE LOK SABHA

Statement showing the number of bogus/ineligible rations cards deleted by the State/UT Governments with effect from July 2006 onwards

(Updated on 30.06.2015)

|   Sl. No | State             | Nos. of bogus/ ineligible ration cards deleted (in lakhs)   |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|
|        1 | 2                 | 3                                                           |
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh^   | 29.19                                                       |
|        2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 0.05                                                        |
|        3 | Assam             | 2.95                                                        |
|        4 | Bihar             | 1.60                                                        |
|        5 | Chhattisgarh      | 9.31                                                        |
|        6 | Delhi             | 17.48                                                       |
|        7 | Gujarat           | 52.13                                                       |
|        8 | Haryana           | 0.03                                                        |
|        9 | Himachal Pradesh  | 0.12                                                        |
|       10 | Jammu &Kashmir    | 0.04                                                        |
|       11 | Jharkhand         | 0.65                                                        |
|       12 | Karnataka         | 81.90                                                       |
|       13 | Kerala            | 0.00 &&                                                     |
|       14 | Madhya Pradesh    | 24.97                                                       |
|       15 | Maharashtra       | 54.07                                                       |
|       16 | Meghalaya         | 0.00 *                                                      |
|       17 | Mizoram           | 0.02                                                        |
|       18 | Nagaland          | 0.13                                                        |
|       19 | Odisha            | 5.07                                                        |
|       20 | Punjab            | 0.08                                                        |
|       21 | Rajasthan         | 0.03                                                        |
|       22 | Sikkim            | 0.01                                                        |
|       23 | Tamil Nadu        | 4.06                                                        |
|       24 | Uttar Pradesh     | 9.23                                                        |
|       25 | Uttarakhand       | 0.16                                                        |
|       26 | West Bengal       | 200.73 (individual cards)                                   |
|       27 | A&N Islands       | 0.10                                                        |
|       28 | Chandigarh        | 0.08                                                        |
|       29 | Lakshadweep       | 0.00 $                                                      |
|       30 | Puducherry        | 0.31                                                        |

Actual figures  && 318, * 122, $ 300

^ including State of Telangana.