identifying & addressing implementation issues for...

Identifying & Addressing Implementation Issues

for Effective Aadhaar-Authentication in Public

Distribution System

A Study for the Unique Identification Authority of India, Planning Commission, Government of India

Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE)

May 4, 2012

Backdrop

• The Chief Ministers Conference held in 1993 by the Government of India

became a landmark for ushering in governance reforms in India.

• The focus was on making public services efficient by improving access to

various sections of the society and by widening choices and brining in

transparency and accountability in service delivery.

• Some of the key elements of good governance which were built into the Indian

approach to transform institutions and service delivery are as follows:

– Structural and functional role clarity, redefining the role of government

– Focus on result orientation rather than output or input orientation.

– Enhancing autonomy to public sector organizations and their functionaries.

– Capacity enhancement and leadership development

– Change management

– Putting the citizen at the center of governance.

– Improving accountability through measures like performance auditing and social auditing.

– Improving transparency using the tools of e-government.

– Strengthening local governments- decentralization through devolution of functions, funds and

functionaries

– Enhance the use of information technology to empower citizens

PDS in India

• The public distribution system in India operates through a multi-level process in

which the centre and states share responsibilities.

• The central government is responsible for procuring or buying food grains, such

as wheat and rice, from farmers at a minimum support price. It then allocates the

grains to each state and transports the grains to the central depots in each state.

• After that, each state government identified the poor households and is

responsible for delivering the allocated food grains from these depots to each

ration shop.

• The ration shop is the end point at which beneficiaries buy their food grains.

Agencies involved in the PDS process are Civil Suppliescorporation/Department,

Revenue Department, and Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Department to

name a few. Studies indicate serious gaps in implementation of PDS, including

identification of real beneficiaries, leakage of food grains during transportation,

pilferage of supplies from the ration shop into the open market, coordination

issues among various agencies, monitoring and vigilance etc.

Reforms in PDS

• As a part of its commitment to improve governance and provide transparent,

accountable and corruption free governance, the Government of India in

November 2008 launched a Unique Identification project (UID) with an

intention to develop a comprehensive and robust system of identification of each

and every person living in the country with the help of a unique identification

number.

• This number is designed to be a 12 digit number which will capture

demographic details of the person along with his/her biometrics (10 fingerprints,

iris scan and photo).

• The Government was of the view that this unique number will help the

government to implement its development agenda in a much more effective

manner, especially it will help in the implementation of the pro-poor schemes

through better targeting of individuals in various schemes like NREGS, PDS,

Pension Scheme to name a few.

• The pilot initiative taken by Government of Andhra Pradesh has been narrated

which is in the context of the public distribution system which caters to the

socio-economically backward weaker sections of the society.

The Pilot Study

The paper highlights the pro poor governance reform agenda of the Government of

India for making the public services to work, and putting citizens at the centre of

public service delivery and making them more accountable and transparent to the

citizen.

Objectives of the Study:

To identify the field level implementation and governance aspects that

need to be considered for effective Aadhaar implementation in the Public

Distribution System

Scope

The study focuses on the various aspects of Aadhaar implementation in

the Public Distribution System in Andhra Pradesh.

Preparatory Activities- (Review of Literature, Finalization

of methodology, and identification of districts)

PHASE – II Feedback

PHASE – III

Feedback

PHASE – I Development of questionnaires, training of field

staff, planning field visits)

Situational Analysis Report

Report on Recommendations and

Suggestions

Final Report

Case Study – Brazil Zero Hunger Programme

Field work and data collection

Project Phases

Districts covered

District Mandal Villages

Chitoor Renegunta Kothapallem

Marigunta

Gandhi Nagar

Guruvurajapalem

Lakmipuram

Chukavaripalle

District Mandal Villages

Ranga

Reddy

Maheshwaram Tukkuguda

Mahankal

Harshaguda

Raviryal

These were the Phase I districts identified by government for Aadhaar implementation.

Stakeholders

A sample of approx 574 persons were contacted

for gathering information including demand side

as well as supply side persons.

S

No

Stakeholder category No.

Demand Side

1 Beneficiaries 474

2 Farmers 30

3 SHG women 25

Supply Side

1 Food Corporation of India 9

2 Food and Civil Supplies Dept 15

3 State Warehousing Corporation

4 Transporters 1

5 Fair price shop dealers 10

6 Gram Panchayat 5

7 Mandal level officials 5

Farmers or producers registered at local

purchase centers/mandis

Transporters involved in the movement of foodgrains

Local officials from Food

Corporation of India

Officials of Mandal Level Stock Points

(distribution centers)

Officials of state PDS including

those involved in vigilance

Fair Price Shopkeepers

BPL, APL ration cardholders

Self Help Groups

PDS: Key Process

• Production

– Sale

– Milling

• Storage

– FCI

– MLS

– Other godowns

• Transportation

– To godowns

– To FPS

• Distribution

– Dealers

– Beneficiaries

Institutions Involved Food & Civil

Supplies

Department

Revenue

Department

Civil

Supplies

Corporation

Lifting,

Movement,

Stocking &

Delivery

Vigilance &

Enforcement

Monitoring,

Inspection &

Revenue

Collection

Food Corporation of

India,

Warehousing

Corporation, other

Private Agencies

Procurement

& Storage

Panchayati

Raj

Department

Monitoring &

Oversight

AP State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited- lifting, movement, stocking and delivery of essential

commodities at the door step of the Fair Price Shops.

It lifts rice and wheat from the Food Corporation of India godowns; sugar from Sugar factories and

Palm oil from MMTC, moves to Mandal Level Stockist Points (MLS Points), stores there and

transports to the Fair Price Shop (F.P Shop) dealers for delivery at the Fair Price Shop door step.

Redgram dal is purchased by the Andhra Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation through tenders

and delivered at the M.L.S. Points. This is also moved to the F.P. Shops for delivery at the door step

of F.P. Shop along with other commodities.

While Kerosene is lifted by the wholesalers from the oil depots, stored and transported to the F.P.

Shops / retail points as per the allotment for door step delivery of F.P. Shop dealer.

Production

Stages in Production

1.Stage I - Production (procurement of seed, fertilizer, financial assistance -loans etc)

2.Stage II- Sale and purchase of commodity- market yard activities including pricing

3.Stage III- Mill Levy - procurement by FCI

Gaps Identified

S

No

Key

Stages/Processes

Key Authentication Gaps Identified

1 Lack of availability

of financial

assistance

to the marginal

farmer

• The marginal farmers who produce on leased lands are not the real owners and don’t

have the Pattadar Passbooks which are the traditional source of

identification/authentication for getting financial assistance from the banks. They fall

into the debt trap of local money lenders.

• There are local agents who work as facilitators and buy the produce from farmers,

provide financial assistance during the course of farming like purchase of fertilizer,

pesticides, labour expenses and tractor expenses etc. In return the farmers sell their

produce to these agents. The local agents also tie up with the local millers for

processing paddy as rice. They stand in an advantageous position than the farmer.

2 Seed creation-

procurement and

Fertilizer

Procurement

• The marginal and small farmers prefer buying bags from the private

individuals/farmers even though there are government outlets also for selling seeds

in small quantum of 10kgs. On the other hand the big farmers/Land holders prefer to

dry paddy on their own and convert them as seeds for the next crop. The marginal

and small farmers don’t approach the Government outlets also for buying fertilizers

which is a key input during the production cycle and in regular intervals. This

remains a prime challenge since the fertilizer subsidy is not reaching the marginal

farmers which are in dire necessity for this kind of a support.

• The problems faced by small and marginal farmers in terms of not being able to get

fertilizers, seeds and other subsidies from the government is due to lack of

authentication or individual identification. Marginal farmers who produce on leased

lands are not the real owners and don’t have the Pattadar Passbooks which are the

traditional source of identification/authentication for getting subsidies from the

Government like seeds, fertilizers, other subsidies. Many of the small farmers don’t

hold any of these documents and are therefore put to major hassles by the system.

Gaps Identified

S

No

Key

Stages/Processes


3 Market Yard

activities

Farmers sell their produce to the local agents instead of coming to the Market Yards -

which have been created by the Govts to facilitate sale due to logistics costs, lack of time

and resources for the farmer, locational disadvantages (distance of yard), lack of needed

infrastructural (support) facilities at the yards

The Agriculture Market Committees. AMCs are expected to make available quality seeds,

pesticides and fertilizers to the farmers in the market yards but they are not able to deliver

effectively.

Availability of information gathering of the activities at the yards. The nature of

information to be collected by the AMC includes information about the Miller, the quantity

of purchase, and the rate of purchase etc. Lack of computerisation of information and use

of manual methods for recording information of sale and purchase of the produce is the

key gap. For example, the Marketing Committees and the Marketing Department records

the sale and purchase information in various registers (A & B Registers). Due to use of

manual methods there are chances of manipulation of data and it is extremely difficult for

the higher authorities to monitor the process.

4 Monitoring Lack of proper monitoring and vigil on the part of the Government on the purchase and

sale of commodity by the Millers at the market yards. Lack of computerization of

information is a major gap which leads to poor monitoring by the state and district level

authorities ending up in in-effective decision making.

5 Transparency and

Information

Lack of Information to the farmers about the prices of a commodity prevailing at different

centers during the sale period diminishes his bargaining power. Therefore, they have to

depend upon the price offered by the traders in the mandi system or by the local agents.

The marketing system is more favorable to the buyers compared than to the sellers. Lack

of quick and authentic information on the prices of commodities at different centres, the

farmers loses their bargaining power.

Gaps Identified S

No

Key

Stages/Proces

ses


1 Process of

collection of

Mill Levy

Authentication gaps have been seen in the process of quality check certification, release orders

for movement of grain, organizing transportation etc is done by various agencies like FCI, State

Government, District Supply Office, Civil Supplies Corporation. Manual methods are used for all

the above activities like release order issue, quality check certification etc.

oManual methods are used for this process which provides chances of manipulating

information.

oCoordination is also a major issue between the multiple agencies performing these tasks.

oThere is a need for individual identification and authentication of the Miller, quality and quantity

of processed commodity delivered at FCI, time and other details.

oCoupled with individual identification of the Miller, there is a need for computerization and use

of information technology for enhanced monitoring by the responsible authorities and improved

coordination between the multiple agencies which carry out these activities.

2 Mill Levy

Movement

During discussion with the millers it was told that though operate on large scale are equally

making losses in the chain since they also have to pay truck rentals and demurrage changes for

getting the stock unloaded at FCI. A loaded truck with bags of rice has to wait for 2-7days

depending on the storage space available at the FCI. The demurrage changes along with truck

rentals mount and reduce the margins of the agents. Process authentication is a major

requirement at this stage of PDS activity. Lack of standard procedure and timelines set for

movement of processed grain from the miller to the FCI godown.

Case I

Discussion with (Mr XXX) a milling major located in the village of East Godavari district who is operating with 6000bags of

paddy processing a day explained that the losses he makes towards the demurrage charges is very huge. .

Case II

In another case, the plight of a (Mr XXX) in the Yanam town of Pondicherry state that is operating with 3000 bags of paddy

processing unit is no different from the above mentioned milling major of the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh who makes

losses towards demurrage charges..

Procurement and Storage

Stage I – Procurement & Storage by FCI

Stage III- Movement of Stock from FCI and Storage at MLS

Gaps Identified

S

No

Key Stages Key Authentication Gaps Identified

1 Purchase of

commodities by

FCI

Quality standards are set for purchases of commodities like rice, dal etc from Millers.

There are a number of issues that create problems with following quality standards of

purchase. The state government in some cases purchases rice from women groups and

other identified sources, distress sale etc. There are chances for dilution of following

quality standards during the purchase. More importantly at the village level, there are

pressure groups which instigate the farmers to dump their produce for purchase by the

Government, and the Government is forced to buy the crop, which leads to dilution of

quality standards. A major process authentication gap is visible here at the point of entry

of grain into the PDS.

2 Verification at FCI There are different points of verification both of quality and quantity as soon as the mill

levy arrives at the FCI. There are manual registers in which information of the stock

arrived is entered. Manual entry is done to record the details of the quality and quantity

checks conducted at various points at FCI. There is no computerization of information.

3 Storage capacity at

FCI.

During discussion with the Millers, it was found out that the trucks loaded with grains

have to be parked near FCI godowns for days together as there is space constraint. There

are Demurrage losses incurred by the Miller. During informal discussions officials also

told that the Miller being a business man will try and get his losses back through other

means. Therefore this part of the process needs to be more transparent and a system has

be in place which can clearly show the authorities as to when the truck from the Millers

godown started for FCI and when exactly did the truck unload at FCI.

4 Release of the

Commodities to the

various MLS points

The complete process of issue of release order from FCI for lifting of the commodities by

the Stage I transporter is done manually. Computerization of this part of the process is

lacking which hampers the process authentication at this point of the activity.

Gaps Identified

S

No


5 Movement of grain from

FCI to MLS: Role of

Stage I Transporter

The State Government gives the complete responsibility of the movement of grains

from the FCI to the Mandal Level Stock points– limitation observed at the point of

movement of commodities based on the request of the State Government is that

the Stage I Transporter takes the complete responsibility of the movement of rice,

sugar from the godown of FCI and sugar factories to the MLS points. Though there

are no effective mechanisms in place at this point to that the load of truck reaches

the desired destination.

6 Weighment problems at

MLS

Though there are balance scales etc, at the MLS due to paucity of time and non-

availability of persons to work, the bags and loaded into the transport and sent to

the FP Shops. If the FP shop owner persists on weighing the quantity his stock

arrival is delayed unduly. Process authentication will be a critical aspect in this

activity. There is a clear need for use of information technology and automated

weighing tools for carrying out the activities.

7 Monitoring of movement The Route Officer is supposed to monitor the process of movement of

commodities from MLS to FP shops. It was observed that in most of the cases the

transporter picks up the stock and hands it over to the FP shops. The role of the

route officer is not seen to be very effective. Individual authentication and

identification of the Officer in-charge for monitoring the movement is very critical

here.

8 Lack of storage capacity

at the MLS point

There is inadequate storage capacity at the MLS from where the stock is lifted and

sent to FPS. Though the local authorities feel that this is not a big issue because

the stock doesn’t remain at this point for more than a few days.Yet there is a need

to streamline this part of the process because in a short gap of a few days a lot of

unethical activities happen at this point of PDS chain.

Distribution

• The key processes and authentication aspects in

distribution are highlighted below:

• Stage I- Release of ration to FP Shops

• Stage II- Process of issue of ration to the beneficiaries

Gaps Identified

S

No


1 Issue of

ration Cards

The common man applies for a Ration Card through multiple channels: mainly it comes through Chief

Minister’s village visits (Racha banda), recommendation from a local political leader, request to mandal

office and so on. These multiple requests have to be processed by the Revenue department through

an enquiry process which is labourious and painstaking as described the officials.

This process is ineffective due to inadequate manpower and it requires physical inspection at the

residence of the applicant, lack of common database of families living in the village/mandal is another

major drawback, lack of mobility for the revenue officials for movement into villages, apathy, pressure

from the local MLAs are other factors that render the process ineffective.

2 Identification

of

beneficiaries

at FPS

The traditional system of authentication or identification of the beneficiary at the FP shop is with the

help of a Ration Card. The Ration card has a photo identity facility with all the details of the family

members including their photographs. Identification of the beneficiary is not very difficult as the FP

Shop dealer personally knows all the people who are registered with him for monthly drawal of

commodities.

People accepted that there were real time problems with the traditional system of authentication, i.e.

with the ration card as a source of identity. An interesting feature was observed that many of the

beneficiaries usually keep their ration cards at the FP shops itself. This is done by them at the behest

of the dealer and it leads to mis-management of stocks and wrong entries etc. People said that when

they keep their cards at the shop anyone could just take away their cards, entries could be made in

their cards without their knowledge, and there was tremendous scope for pilferage.

3 Issue of

Ration at the

Fair Price

Shop

Gaps have been identified during the process of issue of ration to the beneficiaries at the FP shops is

completely manual. It was observed during the field work that due to the manual methods there is

an opportunity for the FP shop dealer to indicate that all the card holders have taken the complete

quota of their entitled commodities as per schedule and there is not method to check if it has been

really happened. There is no use of technology during this process of issue of ration.

Gaps Identified

S

No


4 Method of

Entry of

Monthly

Transaction

Details in

Beneficiary

Ration Cards.

The FP shop dealer gives the commodities as per the entitlement to the family and records the details of the

commodities gives in the Ration Card of the person in a manner that is totally unaccountable. When the team saw

how the FP shop dealer was using the ration card it was observed that there was total lack of clarity in entry of

details which the FP Shop dealer does in the beneficiary Ration card. The FP shop dealer simply scribbles

illegibly in the Ration card and does not write the details of monthly ration given to the beneficiary. The entry

that is done by the FP shop dealer in the ration book is most illegible and vague. No one can understand what has

been recorded in the ration book month-wise. This is a major gap that appears in the process at the FP shop.

5 Monitoring and

Vigilance

function

There is a need for individual authentication of the process of vigilance, because despite the government

designing elaborate vigilance mechanisms there is totally ineffective vigilance on ground. The local officials say

that due to lack of adequate manpower and mobility it is not possible to keep the vigil and check that is expected

to be done during the process of issue of commodities at the FP shops.

6 Lack of

effective

information

sharing with

the public

The Department of Civil Supplies, Government of Andhra Pradesh has brought out a Citizens Charter directing

the FP Shops to display information regarding the names and details of beneficiaries for transparency. But it has

been observed during the field visit that not even one single shop displays the above required information

regarding beneficiaries. This provides a lot of chance for the FP Shop dealer to manipulate distribution of

commodities to the assigned beneficiaries

7 Grievance

redressal

mechanism

The Grievance Redressal system in the public distribution system is totally not operational. People are not aware

of whom to approach in case they don’t get the quality and quantity of commodities entitled under the PDS.

When the beneficiaries were asked whom do approach to register your grievances and problems with regard to

the PDS.

Distribution: FPS

S

No


8 Transparency

at the FP

Shops:

GoAP directs the FP Shops to display information regarding the amount of stock received,

date of disbursal of stock, etc. As a part of the field survey the FP shop dealers were asked if

they provide required information to the public in terms of arrival, disbursal and timings.

There was a mixed response to this question- some of the dealers were providing information

on the arrival and disbursal of the stock while others were not. What the team observed at the

field was that not even one of the 10 shops visited had any display of such information.

9 Weighment

Problems

(MLS Point to

FP Shops):

It has been observed that the MLS point from where the stock is lifted and sent to the FP

Shops does not have adequate facility for weighment of commodities. Though there are

balance scales etc, due to paucity of time and non-availability of persons to work, the bags

and loaded into the transport and sent to the FP Shops. If the FP shop owner persists on

weighing the quantity his stock arrival is delayed unduly.

10 Data

Management

at the FP

Shops:

During the survey all the 10 FP shop dealers who were contacted showed their method of

data management. All the information regarding the stock arrival, disbursal, etc is all done

through Manual registers.

11 Grievance

Redressal

Mechanism

The Grievance Redressal system in the public distribution system is totally not operational.

People are not aware of whom to approach in case they don’t get the quality and quantity of

commodities entitled under the PDS. When the beneficiaries were asked whom do approach

to register your grievances and problems with regard to the PDS.

12 Interference

from Local

Administration

When asked if they face any interference from the local administration including Gram

Panchayat members/Sarpanch, Tahasildar or officials from the Civil Supplies Department only

2 out of the 10 persons met said that there was interference from the Tahasildar/VRO and only

1 of them said that the field level staff of the Civil Supplies department interfered in their

functioning.

Transportation

Stage I:

Civil Supplies Corporation

Hires Transporters

Rice moves from Food

Corporation of India to Mandal

Level Stock Points

The activity starts early in the month of January. The Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Civil

Supplies Corporation invites tenders for Stage 1 contractors from all 23 districts.

Tenders are called for by Civil Supplies Corporation. Based on the competence of the

contractors (technical and financial), the list is finalized for all the districts and the Civil

Supplies Corporation issues an Order with the selected contractors.

Gaps Identified

S

No


1 Transparency and

effectiveness of the

Tendering process

The tendering process followed by the government for identification of the Stage I contractor is through

advertisements in local newspapers wherein tenders are called for from various districts. Absence of e-

tendering is a major gap in the tendering process which will provide greater transparency and

accountability to the complete process as a whole.

2 Manual process of

brining out release orders

for movement of

commodities from FCI to

MLS

The current system requires the Stage I transporter to get a release order copy from the Food

Corporation of India indicating the amount of stock to be carried from the FCI to the MLS Point. All

this process is carried out in a manual fashion. There is no use of technology for brining in greater

transparency during this process.

3 Monitoring of the

process of movement of

grain from FCI to MLS

Procedurally though during the movement of the commodities from FCI a Route Office has to

accompany the lorry, most of the times the driver or the contractor picks up the stock and starts the

movement. There is no route officer involved in this part of the movement which makes all the more

important for authentication of individual/driver/company agents and others who are responsible for the

movement of the commodity.

Apart from individual authentication, there is also need for authentication of the complete process cycle

right from the point of loading the commodities on to the Stage I transportation till it reaches the MLS

point. No online sharing of information by the agencies involved namely the FCI, Civil Supplies

Corporation, Civil Supplies Department and so on who are involved in the PDS regarding the number

of bags, quantity, quality of the stock being sent, name of the person etc. This system is very critical as

it will fix greater accountability on the officials responsible for the movement of the commodities from

FCI to MLS. This will also enhance accountability on the contractor to ensure that there are no losses

incurred during the transit and all the uploaded quantity of grains reach the destination.

4 Monitoring of the

process of movement of

grain from MLS to Fair

Price Shops

There are gaps in the Stage II transportation process, when the commodities are moved from the MLS

points to the Fair Price shops. During discussion with the FP shop agents it was gathered that there are

losses during the transportation and therefore the FP shop dealer doesn’t get the complete quantity of

commodities indented. Although he is expected to supply commodities as per the number of card

holders for the month. This creates a lot of imbalance in the transactions.

Transportation

During an informal discussion with the FCI officials it was revealed that there is no

guarantee that all that has been loaded on to the truck will reach the destination in

the desired manner. The Andhra Pradesh Government has initiated the system of

putting the RFID tags to the bags while loading them on to the trucks. Even this

was being criticized by the officials who said that RFID can only show us that the

truck is moving in that direction, but can do nothing to ensure that the bags are not

replaced or the bags can also reach empty to the final destination despite the RFID

tag. Tamilnadu government has also experimented with RFID tags and the success

levels of the experiment have to be studied for replication.

Transportation

• Stage I

• There are gaps in the process of transportation of grain from the FCI to the MLS points at the Mandal level. Though the tradition system requires the Stage I transporter to have a release order copy from the FCI indicating the amount of stock to be carried from the FCI to the MLS Point. The driver or the contractor pick the stock and start the movement. There is no route officer involved in this part of the movement which makes all the more important for authentication of individual as well as the complete process which means that there should be a computerization and online transmission of complete information regarding the number of bags, quantity, quality of the stock being sent, name of the person etc.

• This system is very critical as it will put some kind of accountability on the contractor to ensure that there are no losses incurred during the transit and all the uploaded quantity of grains reach the destination.

During informal discussions with officials responsible for transportation it was gathered that the Civil Supplies

Corporation keeps security to the tune of 25 to 30 lakhs from the transporters and therefore any losses during the

transit can be recovered from the deposit amount.

There was another view coming in that the contractor puts in a huge sum of money for winning the tender for

Transportation contract from the department. So naturally he has to make profits out of the activity that he is doing- i.e.;

moving the grains form the FCI godowns to the MLS points. It is an accepted fact that there are cartels formed between

the Miller and the Transporter and they help each other make financial gains during the complete process.

Transportation

• Stage II

• There are gaps in the process of transportation of grain from MLS points to the

FP shops. There is some amount of loss during the transportation and therefore

the FP shop dealer doesn’t get the complete quantity of commodities indented

and at the same time he is expected to supply commodities as per the indent.

This creates a lot of imbalance in the transactions.

All the 10 FP Shop Dealers who were contacted during the study said that they didn’t get the

complete quantity of commodities indented and at the same time he is expected to supply

commodities as per the indent. This creates a lot of imbalance in the transactions.

Tender process

The tender process followed by the government for identification of the contractor

for transportation purpose is purely through manual methods. Advertisements are

given and tenders are called for from various districts. Absence of e-tendering

process is a major gap in the transportation sector, this gives greater transparency

and accountability to the system as a whole.

Community Participation

Lack of Community Participation: People’s participation is negligible in monitoring

the functioning of the FP Shops is totally absent.

The Department of Civil Supplies has constituted Vigilance / Food Advisory

Committees for reviewing the PDS. These committees are constituted at Village,

Mandal, Division, District, Municipal Corporation / Municipality and at State level.

This Committee comprises of SHG representative, Local political representatives,

Representatives from card holders, Dealers representatives, Representative of the

Food and Civil Supplies, Representative from consumer organizations and the Joint

Collector- Convenor of the group. This initiative has not yet started.

The team visited Tukkuguda village to interact with the FP Shop dealers as well as public. To our

greatest surprise at around 9.00 am an able bodied man in a Maruti 800 white colored car came

down to the FP shop and collected his provisions from the FP shop. The key issue here is they

eligible beneficiaries at all? How did they get the White card? Are we depriving the real

beneficiaries from their entitlements?

Streamlining PDS: Approaches Adopted

• AP:

– Aadhaar based smart cards

– FP Shop Automation

– Others

• Chhattisgharh

– Automation of Procurement

– De-privatisation of FP shops

– Transportation reforms

– Others

AP: Aadhaar based PDS

Beneficiary Profile

Income of the Respondents

8%

51%

26%

6%5% 4%0%

No income

below 18,000

18,000 to 25,000

25,000 to 40,000

40,000 to 60,000

Above 60,000 per

anum

Demography of Respondents

3% 9%

14%

16%

12%12%

8%

26%Below 25 yrs

25 yrs -30 yrs

31 yrs- 35 yrs

36 yrs – 40 yrs

41 yrs -45 yrs

46 yrs – 50 yrs

51 yrs – 55 yrs

56 yrs and above

Compotion of Gender

61%

39% Male

FemaleComposition of Education of the Respondents

8%

14%

22%56%

Graduation

High School

School drop out

illiterate

Composition of Caste of the Respondents

4%

19%

68%

8% 1%0%0%

ST SC BC OC OBC PH VH

Type of Card

88%

5% 7%0% White Card

Pink Card

Antyodaya

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Hunger Zero Project of Brazil: A Case Study

• Backdrop

– In Brazil, the survey that comes closer in the measurement of food insecurity is the Family Budget Survey - POF, carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE.

– In the last survey published, with data compiled in 2003, 46.6% of the Brazilian families stated that they had difficulties obtaining enough food.

– In a 13.8% of these cases the difficulty was frequent. In the North region, the proportions were, respectively, 63.9% and 17.2%; and, in the Southeast Region, the proportions were 60.8% and 19.3%.

– In the Zero Hunger Project, it was estimated that, in 1999, 44 million people (9.3 million families), or 27.8% of the population, were vulnerable to hunger.


• The first axis of the Food Security Policy: – Integration of structural policies for employment and income generation.

– The programme recognizes need for employment generation, improvement of wages and improve purchasing power of the poor segments. This constitutes the

• The second axis of the Food Security Policy – Integration of specific policies on access to a quality diet.

– State to intervene to include in the food consumption market those whose income is insufficient to ensure an adequate food intake for their families.

– Encourage the growth of supply of cheap food, even through own consumption and/or subsistence production; and, finally, to include the excluded, given that access to a basic diet is an absolute right of any human being, not to say that it is a citizen right that should be ensured to all Brazilians.

• The third axis of the Food Security Policy: – Integrate the educational aspect of the programme, since it is not enough to have

access to food in sufficient quantity, it is necessary to be aware of what one is eating, the quality and source of the food consumed.

– Several studies reveal that the nutritional problem of the Brazilian population results not only from insufficient acquisition of food, but also from inadequate choice of food. Therefore, the problem is both quantitative and qualitative. And this problem is not restricted only to the low-income population, but also to the whole population.

The Programme Zero Hunger is a strategy of the federal Brazilian government to

ensure the right of all human beings to adequate nutrition, reaching those with

difficulties to access nutrition. This strategy consists of promoting nutritional

security and it contributes towards the eradication of extreme poverty and towards

the enrichment of the most vulnerable part of population.

Objective

To eradicate hunger in Brazil promoting social inclusion of population with difficult

access to food.

Target Population

Brazilian population with difficult access to food.


Zero Hunger Programme: Brazilian Case

• There are four aspects involved in this concept: – The first and most visible one is quantity: a minimum consumption of

calories, proteins and vitamins is required to ensure an active and

healthy life.

– The second, no less visible, is quality: people must have access to

nutritious food.

– The third aspect is regularity: eating at least three times a day. This

means having breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

– And the fourth aspect is dignity: a person who feeds from garbage or

what restaurants throw does not have food security, in spite of not

being undernourished by biological standards.

1. Increasing the access to food

2. Income transfer Programmes– Programme Bolsa Familia- Sub

Programme

2. Strengthening Family Agriculture

3. Promoting income generating processes

4. Mobilisation

Zero Hunger: Components

Bolsa Família Programme

Money Transfer programme conditioned by:

• Immediate poverty decrease through money transfer and

• poverty eradication and promotion of social inclusion through basic social rights (such as health and education) and the access to complementary policies.

• Complementary programmes: co-ordination of efforts by governments and society towards the implementation of social programmes/policies for the development of families belonging to the Programme

Characteristics

Focused on families rather than on individual members;

Unification of selection criteria and beneficiary conditions;

Integration of efforts between different levels of the government (de-centralised, intersectional);

National coverage with gradual implementation in municipalities;

Characteristics

Government commitment to families:

Direct transfer of income to the families (through bank card)

Supervision through government control as well as social control

State bank as an operating agent: system development (registry, selection), payment of benefits, distribution of cards.

Federal bodies engaged with Fome Zero

• Ministry of Social Development & Fight against Hunger - MDS

• Ministry of Agrarian Development - MDA

• Ministry of Health - MS

• Ministry of Education - MEC

• Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock & Food Supply - MAPA

• Ministry of Labor and Employment - MTE

• Ministry of National Integration - MI

• Ministry of Planning, Budget & Management - MP

• Ministry of Finance - MF

• Office of the Civil Staff of the Presidency of the Republic - PR

• General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic/Communication

Secretariat - PR

• Offices of the Special Advisors of the Presidency of the Republic - PR

• National Food and Nutrition Security Council - Consea

Institutional Mechanisms

The National Food Security Council-

CONSEA: At the centre of this network

CONSEA, a consultative and advisory

body directly subordinated to the

Presidency of the Republic, is responsible

for the formulation of guidelines for

ensuring fulfillment of the human right to

food, while maintaining permanent

channels of communication with all sectors

of the government, and with society as a

whole.

State and Municipal Food Security

Councils

Since action at the local level is fundamental

for the attainment of Zero Hunger’s goals,

states and municipalities have been

encouraged to establish their own local

Councils to address issues relating to food

and nutritional security.

CONSEA

14- Ministers of State

11 -observers

37 -representatives of civil society

Total membership: 62 counsellors

Approach

Lessons for India

• India can draw lessons from this programme which has been designed and implemented in a manner that makes it highly participative and inclusive. The key highlights of this project is the nature in which the database of poor families was captured by the municipalities and social identification numbers were issued and the institutional arrangements that were put in place for achieving the objective of coordination -structural and functional at all levels including federal, state, municipal levels etc.

•

• The primary activity that was taken up as a part of the programme was that of registration of all poor families by the municipality. This database of individuals/register was used as base information by all public agencies, and the federal government used this information as a tool to plan the programme. The federal government also facilitated both organizationally and technically to the municipalities for collecting the data necessary to identify the target groups. The data gathered by the municipalities was processed by the Federal Savings Bank which then assigned the respective Social Identification Number to each of the individuals. Based on the identification numbers payment to the beneficiaries was transferred with regard to social benefits. Previous to this initiative, identification and registration of beneficiaries was taken up separately by the several public agencies and this central registration of eligible families taken up by the government proved very effective as it created greater unity and integration of the registration of data concerning the income transfer programs and the rationalization of the data. The database became an important tool for planning the dimension and distribution of social benefit transfers.

• Despite the government having a pool of data of eligible families, there were a number of problems that came up during the implementation of those income transfer programs due to poor coordination between the various programs and governmental activities. This resulted in waste of resources with few effects. The lack of proper planning and of an administrative model was thus notable and it led to the common observation that there was no unified national policy to combat hunger and that there were propositions that had local affects that focused only on income supplement for poor households with amounts that was not enough to banish hunger.

Lessons for India

• Thus the government brought in comprehensive policies targeted at combating poverty and hunger. CONSEA (National Food and Nutritional Security Council), which was founded in (1992-1994) was an agency formed by government and civil society delegates as a consultation and coordination agency of the governmental policies in the area of food security. The network of institutions, agencies and individuals that has been created in the form of CONSEA is a remarkable initiative, where all the key stakeholders come together on the same platform as a part of the implementation structure. This generated tremendous scope for authentication of processes and made the complete process reliable and participative.

• These are some of the key lessons for India in terms of identification of beneficiaries for various programmes including process authentication aspects. Aadhaar as a national initiative provides the central database for all the agencies implementing welfare programmes to use the information for effective implementation of the programme. But like in the case of Brazil, one of the major problems that Indian faces in the implementation of these programmes like mid-day meal, BPL/APL scheme, Antyodaya, Annapurna scheme, nutrition program for pregnant woman etc is that there are multiple agencies operating in making these programmes happen, and there is a total lack of an overarching structural and legal framework which holistically looks at the food and security issues. There are no mechanisms in place to facilitate effective convergence and coordination (structural, functional, process) at each of these activity level or agency level. An overarching institutional structure needs to be put in place in the context of India to lead the social benefits programme. The Food Security Bill initiated by the Government of India and to be made a law soon will provide this requisite institutional and legal framework necessary for achieving effective implementation of the programmes.

Lessons for India

• Civil society participation is a key element of the Zero hunger programme. Authentication of processes is ensured through participation of the civil society and beneficiaries at large. India needs to learn from the fact that as a part of this programme networks have been created at community, municipal, state and federal levels, Anti-Hunger Round-Tables (or Alliances), bringing together representatives of government institutions concerned with hunger reduction, programme managers, civil society and unions, with the aim of ensuring the coordination of actions towards the eradication of hunger within their respective areas of responsibility. These networks also effectively help in monitoring of the programme and thus enhancing authentication of the process and activities within the programme. However owing to some basic institutional disparities between India and Brazil there are issues which we need to address before taking up such initiative and applying the elements of zero hunger programme on lines of Brazil. (Vyasulu, 2010) highlights issues like intergovernmental relations, decentralization of decision making and other issues as bottlenecks in the Indian context and absence of scope for vertical planning and horizontal integration which includes freedom to reallocate budgets, freedom to choose what schemes are to be implemented, what should be postponed or rejected have not be devolved to local governments, making policies to suit typical local needs etc. These issues needs to be addressed for effective implementation of such schemes and programmes.

PDS: Process & Implementation Gaps

• Organizational/functional aspects

– Structural gaps

– Reporting relationships

– HR issues

• Process Gaps

– Lack of comprehensive stakeholder database

– Use of Manual Methods

– Lack of convergence

– Lack of performance accountability systems

– Poor monitoring

– Minimal use of technology

• Governance gaps

– Lack of transparency in the

system

– Lack of adequate participation

from users/beneficiaries

– Ineffective grievance redressal

mechanisms

– Lack of motivation for staff in

the supply side

Key Process and Authentication Gaps

Design/Structural Issues:

The public distribution system involves a number of agencies and multiple stakeholders in the completion of

the process. Each of its function is performed by one stakeholder or a group of stakeholders and these

separate units are established as per their objectives, design and location needs. Thus the design and

structural aspects limit effective interaction between these agencies especially because Government

agencies inherently have the nature of working in silos. All these units/agencies work simultaneously with

marginal or no structural inter-linkages. This structural limitations cause ineffectiveness in the delivery

process.

Food & Civil

Supplies

Department

Revenue

Department

Civil Supplies

Corporation

Lifting, Movement,

Stocking & Delivery

Vigilance &

Enforcement

Monitoring,

Inspection &

Revenue

Collection

Food Corporation of India,

Warehousing Corporation,

Private Agencies

Procurement &

Storage

Panchayati Raj

Department

Monitoring &

Oversight

Reporting Relationships

Assistant Supply

Officer

District Supply

Officer

Manager – State

level, F&CS Dept

District Manager

State level- Civil

Supplies Corp

Food Inspectors

Mandal Revenue

Officer

Joint

Collector/RDO

Collector

Principal Secretary/

Secretary/Commissioner

Minister Civil Supplies Minister, Revenue





Human Resource Issues

• The public distribution system is heavily process ridden and very few activities are automated. Almost all the key activities in the public distribution system are done manually with the available manpower including lifting, weighing stacking, etc of commodities including monitoring at least at the operational levels. Due to acute shortage of manpower most of the activities are done in a haphazard manner. This gives rise to scope for mis-management and irregularities in the system.

identifying & addressing implementation issues for...

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