Lok Sabha Question No. 4369 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-18
Subject: Implementation of PDS and Food Security Schemes
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Shri Aashtikar Patil Nagesh Bapurao

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4369

TO BE ANSWERED ON 18TH MARCH, 2026

## IMPLEMENTATION OF PDS AND FOOD SECURITY SCHEMES

## 4369. SHRI AASHTIKAR  PATIL  NAGESH BAPURAO:

Will  the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS. FOOD AND  PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION  be pleased to state:

- (a): whether the  Government is  aware that in  several rural,  tribal  and economically backward areas, beneficiaries under the Public Distribution  System (PDS) are facing irregular  supply of  essential commodities such as rice, wheat, pulses and sugar along with issues of poor quality and corruption in fair price shops;
- (b): whether the Government  has conducted any recent assessments or audits regarding leakages, diversion offoodgrains,  biometric authentication failures and exclusion errors in ration distribution and if  so, the details  thereof; and
- (c): the details of the concrete steps being taken by the Government to strengthen transparency, ensure doorstep delivery,  improve  grievance redressal mechanisms, modernize storage and transportation  infrastructure  and guarantee timely, adequate and quality  food supply to all eligible beneficiaries under the National Food Security framework?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF STATE FOR MINISTRY  OF CONSUMER  AFFAIRS. FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)

- (a): Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under National Food Security Act (NFS A), 2013 is operated under the joint  responsibility of the Central and the State/Union Territory (UT) Governments. The operational responsibilities for allocation of foodgrains within the States/ UTs, identification of eligible beneficiaries, issuance of ration cards to them, distribution offoodgrains to eligible  beneficiaries under TPDS, issuance of license to Fair Price Shop (FPS) dealers, supervision over and monitoring of  functioning of  FPSs etc. rest with  the concerned State/ UT  Governments.

Accordingly,  as and when any type of complaints/ grievances related to TPDS are received in  this Department from  any source, they are sent to concerned State/ UT  Governments  for  inquiry and appropriate action. Further, no specific complaint cases related to irregular  supply/ poor quality of  subsidized  food  grains and corruption  in FPSs have been received.

- (b): In  order to strengthen the monitoring of NFS A  implementation and to provide a more indepth, incisive and comprehensive empirical evidence on regular basis, the Department of Food and Public Distribution has engaged an agency for  conducting the concurrent evaluation of  the implementation of NFSA, 2013 during 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28.
- (C): In order to ensure transparency and accountability in TPDS, the National Food Security Act, 2013 provides for  periodic social audits on the functioning of  fair  price shops, Targeted Public Distribution System and other welfare schemes, through local authority, or any other authority or body, as may be authorized by the  State Government. In  addition to this,  the Act  provides for constitution of  Vigilance Committees at the State, District, Block and fair price shop levels for ensuring transparency and proper functioning  of  the  Targeted Public  Distribution  System and accountability of the functionaries in the system.

Further, various steps have been taken to strengthen transparency,  ensure doorstep  delivery, improve grievance redressal mechanisms and guarantee timely,  adequate and quality food supply to all eligible  beneficiaries under the National  Food Security as under:

- Ration cards/beneficiary's database have been completely digitized (100%) in all  States/UTs and 99.7%  of ration  cards have been Aadhaar seeded.
- More than 5.50 Lakh (99.8%) out of total 5.51 Lakh Fair Price Shops (FPSs) in the country have been automated by installing  ePoS devices for  the distribution  of  foodgrains through Aadhaar biometric authentication of beneficiaries.
- The nationwide portability  of ration cards, popularly known as One Nation  One Ration Card (ONORC)  has been implemented in  all  36 States/UTs, covering all  Pradhan Mantri  Garib Kalyan Anna Yoj ana (PMGKAY)  beneficiaries. As on date, more than 207 Crore portability transactions have been recorded under ONORC.
- The transparency portal and online  grievance  redressal facility/Toll-free number have been implemented in all States/UTs.
- Online allocation has been implemented in  all  States/UTs and supply chain has been computerized in  31 States/UTs (except UTs of  Chandigarh, Puduchemy and Urban area of Dadra &  Nagar Haveli  which  have adopted DBT  Cash Transfer  scheme).
- Food Corporation of India under the supervision  of Department of Food &  Public Distribution is implementing a robust monitoring  mechanism for transportation of food grains using Road Transport Contractors (RTCs) from  dispatching depot till  receiving  depot. A  GPS enabled live  tracking solution viz.  Vehicle Location Tracking System (VLTS)  has been developed which envisaged to track the vehicles used in transportation of food grains in every transition. The objective of  the project is  to  introduce a  vehicle tracking system for  continuous monitoring  of  vehicles used in movement of food grains in order to prevent pilferages/theft of PDS foodgrains during movement of  foodgrains and to promote transparent procurement and movement with  enhanced vehicle traceability matrix.  Implementation of  Vehicle

Location Tracking System (VLTS) in State/UT Governments till  the last mile delivery of PDS food grains is also being done by the respective states.

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