-The Business Standard   It is not often that the government accepts the report of a committee promptly without detailed scrutiny. But an exception has been made – and with good reasons – in respect of the report of the task force on reforming the public distribution system (PDS). The committee, headed by Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani, has made several valuable recommendations that can cure some of the...

A taskforce, headed by Unique Identification Authority chief Nandan Nilekani, has recommended the setting up of a dedicated mechanism for end-to-end computerization of public distribution system (PDS) across the country to check pilferage. Once the taskforce's report is implemented, PDS consumers will have a choice to either get subsidized goods from their preferred locations or receive cash as the panel wants to give maximum choices to the beneficiaries. Consumers can go to...

The government of India's Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY)a¦ is now internationally recognised for its innovative approach to harnessing information technology to reach the poor, says the World Bank in the context of the smart card-based cashless health insurance scheme. The RSBY has now been picked up by UNDP as one of the 19 schemes worldwide for its publication, Sharing Innovative Experience: Social Protection Floor Success Stories. About 20 million...

A combination of political commitment, awareness and better transparency has ensured that the PDS in Tamil Nadu works as intended, ensuring food security for all. Believe it or not, the Public Distribution System (PDS) is working quite successfully in Tamil Nadu — this is one of the main lessons we have learnt from a recent survey of the PDS in Dindigul and Dharmapuri districts. Be it political commitment that lies behind...

-The Hindu   The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Chief Secretaries of all the States to specify how much additional foodgrains were required for them under the Public Distribution System to ensure that there was no starvation death. A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, passing orders on a petition filed by the People's Union for Civil Liberties on streamlining of the PDS, granted two weeks for the States for...