INFORMS Announces Six Finalists for the 2026 Franz Edelman Award; Department of Food and Public Distribution among the Honorees

• Anna Chakra is an Operations Research (OR)-based PDS supply-chain optimisation tool of the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD), Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
• Named among six global finalists for the 2026 Franz Edelman Award ("Nobel of Operations Research") alongside Chewy, NVIDIA, Google, Microsoft, ECCO Shoe.
• Co-developed with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) India and IIT Delhi (FITT).
• UPSC relevance: GS-II (governance, PDS, NFSA) + GS-III (food security, logistics, tech in governance).