Impact assessment of fair price shop automation in Kerala

End to End Computerization of the Public Distribution System was conceived
by the central government as a panacea for all the systemic problems
in the Targeted Public Distribution System in India. Diversion of food grains,
presence of huge number of bogus ration card, existence of rampant corruption
etc are some of the examples of issues gripped the system for decades.
Justice Wadhwa Committee report and consequent land mark judgments
from the Honorable Supreme Court of India prompted government to use
technology for transforming the PDS in India. Enactment of National Food
Security Act 2013 expedited the process of computerization. Even though
Kerala took the rst initiative for the roll out of the End to End Computerization,
lack of clarity in the policy decision made them one of the last states
in India to implement the project.
End to End Computerization Comprised of ve components but Fair
Price Shop Automation was the major component of the project. e Pos
machines were installed at FPS and Aadhaar or OTP based authentication
made mandatory for taking delivery of the food articles. This component
had some declared objectives like Transparency and eciency in the system,
eliminating leakages and diversion etc. Our study aims to analysis whether
the declared objectives of the FPS automation have achieved its set targets.
We used questionnaire and survey method to collect primary data from the
Ration Card holders. 252 households from 12 districts were surveyed under
dierent card category. Secondary data from the department of Civil Supplies
Government of Kerala was also collected for the study.

PGDEG 2017-2018 INT Jayachandran M B