Public Distribution System
Various welfare programmes are heavily funded by governments all over the world for the most underprivileged sections of the society. One such successful welfare programme is the Public Distribution System (PDS), which provides food grains to low-income households at reasonable costs in an effort to combat poverty. The government provides fair-price shops with necessary commodities such food grains, sugar, kerosene, and other products to facilitate the eligible beneficiaries’ purchase the goods. However, the ineffective targeting of beneficiaries, significant subsidiaries leakages and diversion of food grains, fake and bogus ration cards and lack of transparency has been among the key issues with PDS.
As a solution provider, Terasoft provides a comprehensive solution to enhance the existing PDS system by eliminating duplicate and shadow ration cards. With successful implementation of multiple PDS projects, we have gained extensive experience in managing the entire PDS lifecycle. Our PDS framework is customizable to fit the unique requirements of each client.
Primary features of the PDS include:
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- Digitization of Ration Cards / Beneficiary data
- Connecting resident information to databases from BPL household surveys
- Capturing biometric data of beneficiaries
- Printing and distribution of paper-based / smart card-based Ration cards to the beneficiary
- Data De-duplication to create a unique ID for each beneficiary
- Providing biometric Point of Sale device for secure beneficiary identification
- Online Ration card management system (issuance, deletion, migration, activation / de-activation, etc…)
- Integrated inventory management system and management information system
- Computerization of supply-chain management
- Setting up of transparency portals and grievance redressal mechanisms
Terasoft thus provides End-to-End Computerization of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) that enables to identify the real PDS beneficiaries and streamlines the PDS operations.
Success Stories:
- Ration Cards Project : Terasoft had successfully implemented and completed the Household Ration Cards Project in 5 districts of Andhra Pradesh. In this project, approximately 29 lakhs of ration cards were issued which included BPL – Below Poverty Line Cards – White, APL-Above Poverty Line Cards – Pink and issued coupons for Commodities.
- Aadhaar PDS initiative (AePDS project): Under the Aadhaar-enabled PDS initiative (AePDS project), Terasoft had supplied, installed, tested and maintained e-PoS devices-cum-electronic weighing machines in F.P. shops of East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh State. This project was implemented in the State using online authentication services provided by UIDAI for the sale and distribution of commodities to the BPL beneficiaries in the State. In the West Godavari district, pension payments were disbursed through these ePoS devices on a pilot basis.