Smart Public Distribution Systems: A Technological Approach to Improve Service Delivery

Abstract

In India, state governments issue ration cards, an official and significant document, to those who are qualified to purchase food grains and fuels from the public distribution center at a very low cost. The user’s information and purchase history regarding their ration entitlement are manually recorded in the manual system. Updating a ration book by hand takes a lot of time, especially when there are numerous fraudulent entries. By failing to give the beneficiaries the appropriate amount of food grains, the ration/grocery vendors are engaging in forgery. Therefore, this paper discusses the future rationing system in which the ration card will be connected to Aadhar and the bank account information in a private way. The user’s information will be kept in the government database, which will be connected to the Aadhar card. Every month, as soon as the government approves the ration for the public distribution center, the user receives an SMS with the date, time, and location of the ration’s availability. The user is expected to utilize that service; if they fail to do so, the government database will automatically provide them with a new time and date.