During the interwar period, India had a public distribution system for critical commodities. PDS, on the other hand, arose from the catastrophic food shortages of the 1960s, with its focus on the distribution of food grains in urban scarcity regions. 

Targeted Public Distribution System

The Government of India introduced the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in June 1997, with a focus on the disadvantaged. To deliver food grains and distribute them in a transparent and accountable manner at the FPS level, states were mandated by the PDS to develop fail-safe methods of identifying the poor.

When it was first implemented, the initiative was meant to help roughly 6 crore poor families, with a total of 72 lakh tonnes of food grains set aside each year. Under the scheme, States identified the poor using estimates of poverty from the Planning Commission’s State-by-State poverty estimates for 1993-94, based on the methodology developed by the “Expert Group on Calculation of Proportion and Number of Poor”. The allocation of food grains to States/UTs was based on average consumption in the past, i.e. average yearly off-take of food grains under the PDS for the previous ten years at the time of TPDS implementation.

History of PDS

  • PDS was created as a rationing measure during World War II. Prior to the 1960s, food grain imports were the primary source of distribution through PDS. It was enlarged in the 1960s in response to food shortages, and the government later established the Agriculture Prices Commission and the FCI to increase domestic procurement and storage of food grains for the PDS. PDS was a generic entitlement mechanism for all consumers before 1992, with no defined aim. 
  • The Revamped Public Distribution System (RPDS) was launched in June 1992 with the goal of strengthening and streamlining the PDS while also expanding its reach into far-flung, hilly, remote, and inaccessible areas. In June 1997, the Indian government launched the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) aimed at disadvantaged families.
  • Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY): AAY was a step in ensuring that TPDS aimed to alleviate hunger among the poorest parts of the BPL population.
  • According to a National Sample Survey, around 5% of the overall population of the country sleeps without two square meals every day. The “Antyodaya Anna Yojana” (AAY) was started in December 2000 for one crore of the poorest of the poor families in order to make the TPDS more focused and targeted towards this group of people.
  • The National Food Security Act of 2013 was approved in September 2013, and it mostly relies on the existing TPDS to supply eat grains as legal entitlements to disadvantaged households, marking a shift by making the right to food a justiciable right.

Working of TDPS

  • The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) is run jointly by the federal government and state/union territory governments.
  • The Central Government is in charge of procuring, allocating, and transporting foodgrains to the Food Corporation of India’s designated depots.
  • The operational responsibility for allocating and distributing food grains within the States/UTs, identifying eligible beneficiaries, issuing ration cards to them, and overseeing and monitoring the operation of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) fall to the respective State/UT governments.

Criticism of TDPS

  • Targeting- The most serious critique of TPDS is that it has resulted in the widespread exclusion of truly poor people from the PDS. Madhura Swaminathan addresses two categories of challenges in this context: (i) conceptual concerns and (ii) operational issues.
  • Conceptual Issues- The main question here is whether the TPDS’s definition of poor is adequate. The official poverty line, as calculated by the Planning Commission in 1993-94, is used to determine eligibility for BPL status (adjusted for population levels in 2000). In 1993-94, the target category constituted 37% of the rural population and 32% of the urban population, according to the income poverty level. 
  • Operational Issues- The fact is that in many states, the entire process of identifying BPL households has been carried out in a rather haphazard manner.
  1. Leakages and diversion are two of the most common problems.
  2. Grain deliveries are late and erratic in fair-priced stores.
  3. There is no difference in purchases between spending groups.
  4. The decline in off-take and the viability of fair-priced stores.
  5. The subsidy burden has increased.

Conclusion

PDS is one of the government’s largest welfare programs, assisting farmers in selling their produce at fair prices and assisting the underprivileged sectors of society in purchasing food grains at reasonable prices. The best way ahead is to strengthen the existing TPDS system by capacity building and training the implementing authorities, as well as attempts to plug leaks. Bio-fortified foods must be given through the PDS to improve the nutritional status of the masses, making it more relevant in the face of widespread malnutrition in India.