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Examine major issues concerning public Distribution System in Andhra Pradesh.
Analysis of TPDS have revealed several gaps in implementation. These challenges pertain to the inaccurate identification of households and a leaking delivery system. Expert studies have shown that PDS suffers from nearly 61% error of exclusion and 25% inclusion of beneficiaries, i.e. the misclassification of the poor as non-poor and vice versa.
Another challenge is the leakage of food grains during transportation to the ration shop and from the ration shop itself into the open market.
There are other issues to consider with regard to trends in procurement vis-à-vis production of food grains. As recent data show, the government procures about a third of the quantity of cereals produced domestically. However, the amount slated for procurement is expected to increase under the Act, raising concerns regarding the sustainability of such a food delivery mechanism.
There are also concerns regarding the financial feasibility of such a system. The government bears a large financial burden, the food subsidy, because the cost of procuring and delivering food grains is about six times its sale price. It is anticipated that the food subsidy will rise steadily due to the increased procurement of grains under the Act, related costs and other factors.
Furthermore, a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General has revealed a serious shortfall in the government‟s storage capacity. Given the increasing procurement and incidents of rotting food grains, the lack of adequate covered storage is bound to be a cause for concern.
Increase in the use of PDS is not correlated with a decline in malnutrition. It would be reasonable to expect that greater access to subsidised grains would lead to a decline in malnutrition.
Bureaucratic difficulties are seen to be experienced the most by the least developed villages and the least by college graduates and rich households.
To tackle these challenges, Andhra Pradesh has been implementing the electronic modules in PDS, such as linkage of Aadhaar with ration card data, allotment of commodities under e-PDS and distribution of commodities through e-PoS cum eweighing devices throughout the state through supply chain management, enabling end- to–end computerization of the Public Distribution System(PDS) etc.
Analysis
These challenges are common to both India and Andhra Pradesh. Most of the problems, challenges match through out India except in extra-ordinary cases. So if you are not aware of the challenges specific to Andhra Pradesh, then write the challenges faced in India. But write some initiatives taken by the GoAP in the conclusion to fetch a few extra marks.
| Question Paper | APPSC Group-I 2020 Mains Paper IV: Economy and Development |
| Question No | 12 >> 6 (b) |
| Difficulty Level | Medium |
| Depth Level | Analytical |
| Subject/Topic | Economy and Development >> AP Economy >> Social Infrastructure >> Poverty and Public Distribution |
