Leakages in PDS
Also called: PDS leakage · Topic: Agricultural Marketing, MSP, Buffer Stocks and PDS · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Leakages in PDS means subsidised grain going somewhere other than the people it was meant for. The grain is sold in the open market or given to ineligible people before it reaches entitled households. Leakage wastes the food subsidy and leaves poor families short. Technology is the main fix: computerised records, ePoS machines (electronic point-of-sale devices at fair price shops) and linking ration cards to Aadhaar.
Example
The Shanta Kumar High Level Committee estimated leakage at about 46.7% in 2011-12. With computerisation, ePoS and Aadhaar seeding, later estimates put it at roughly a fifth to a quarter.
Don't confuse with
- Exclusion error: this is when an eligible poor household is wrongly left out, for example when Aadhaar authentication fails. Leakage is grain reaching the wrong hands. Exclusion is grain not reaching the right hands.
Related concepts
- Public distribution system
- Fair price shop
- Central issue price
- Targeted PDS
- Universal PDS
- Ration card portability
- Food security
- Nutrition security
- Hidden hunger
- Biofortification