Parliament Question: Implementation of PDS in Mumbai

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MiNISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1730 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29Tll JULY, 2026 IMPLEMENTATION OF PDS IN MUMBAI 1730 SHRI SANJAY DINAPATIL:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased

to state:

(a) whether the Government has undertaken any assessment of the implementation of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Mumbai during the last three years with regard to availability, accessibility and timely distribution of essential foodgrains and if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of foodgrains allocated, lifted and distributed in Mumbai under various food security schemes, indicating the number of beneficiaries covered;

(c) whether the Government has received any complaints regarding irregularities, diversion of foodgrains, authentication failures or inadequate functioning of Fair Price Shops in Mumbai and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the details of the measures taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to strengthen transparency, digital monitoring, beneficiary authentication, grievance redressal and efficient delivery offoodgrains under the Public Distribution System in Mumbai? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)

(a) to (d): Yes. In order to strengthen implementation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMIGKAY) under NFSA, 2013, the Department of Food and Public Distribution conducted the concurrent evaluation for assessment of the implementation of PN4GKAY during 2025-26. The assessment outcomes are generated at National/State level and not at city level.

The State of Maharashtra performs strongly in Service Delivery. Service Delivery under PMGKAY assesses the efficiency, regularity, accessibility, and quality of foodgrain distribution systems delivered through Fair Price Shops (FPSs). The assessment captures key operational dimensions, including receipt of full entitlement, regularity of ration distribution, proper weighing practices, waiting time, ease of access, single-visit collection, and beneficiary satisfaction with FPS services and foodgrain quality. The Service delivery performance indicators of IVlaharashtra is at Annexu re-l.

Lifting and distribution of foodgrains under TPDS is a continuous process. States/UT’s lift foodgrains from Central Pool for distribution under TPDS as per requirement/entitlement.

States/UT’s are also allowed to lift foodgrains in advance (higher quantity based on supply chainrequirements) for future distribution cycles, owing to their local exigencies. Foodgrains are allocated State wise.

Details of allocation, lifting and distribution under TPDS of foodgrains to Maharashtra during the last three Financial Years is at Annexure-II.

Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State/ Union Territory (UT) Governments. Central Government is responsible for procurement, allocation and transportation of foodgrains upto the designated depots of the Food Corporation of India (FC:1). The operational responsibilities for allocation of foodgrains within the States/ UTs, identification ol eligible beneficiaries, issuance of ration cards to them, distribution of foodgrains to eligible beneficiaries under TPDS, issuance of license to Fair Price Shop dealers, supervision over and monitoring of functioning ofFPSs etc. rest with the concerned State/ UT Governments.

Helpline number 1967/1800-State series number is operational in all the States/ UTs for contacting and redressal of the complaints in Public Distribution System and filing any type of complaints by the intended beneficiaries. As and when any complaints/ grievances related to PDS are received in this Department from any source, they are sent to concerned State/ UT Governments for inquiry and appropriate action.

Further, all States/UTs have been advised that no genuine beneficiary/household shall be denied from receiving entitled quota of subsidized foodgrains due to failure of biometric/Aadhaar authentication due to network/connectivity/linking related issues, other technical reasons or poor biometrics of the beneficiary.

In addition to above, the Government has taken following steps for digitization and

transparency in Public Distribution System: i. Digitisation & Aadhaar seeding: Ration cards/beneficiary database 100% digitised in all States/UTs; 99.7% of ration cards Aadhaar-seeded, eliminating bogus/duplicate cards.

ii. Transparency & grievance redressal: Transparency portals and online grievance redressal/toll- free helplines operational in all States/UTs. iii. Online allocation & supply chain computerisation: Online allocation implemented in all States/UTs; supply chain computerised in 3 1 States/UTs (except Chandigarh, Puducherry and urban Dadra & Nagar Haveli, which have adopted DBT Cash Transfer).

iv. ePoS-based Aadhaar authentication at FPS level: 5.50 lakh (99.8%) of 5.51 lakh Fair Price Shops automated with ePoS devices, ensuring biometric authentication of beneficiaries at the point of distribution and curbing diversion.

v. One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC): Nationwide portability implemented across all 36 States/UTs, covering all PVIGKAY beneficiaries; over 221 crore portability transactions recorded to date, reducing exclusion and duplicate entitlement claims.

vi. Rightful Targeting (RT): A dedicated de-duplication and beneficiary-verification exercise using Aadhaar/PDS data analytics has led to identification and deletion of ineligible/duplicate beneficiaries, with 5.95 Cr flagged beneficiaries (excluding landholding cases) and 2.35 Cr deleted beneficiariesvii. SMART-PDS reform initiative: Being implemented with modules for Ration Card Management, Distribution, Supply Chain and Grievance Redressal to further standardise and digitally integrate State-level TPDS operations.

viii. NIRMAL & SAKSHAM: New initiatives under the SARTHAK PDS Umbrella Scheme (2026–31) aimed at strengthening data architecture/analytics (NIRMAL) and real-time data integration (including VLTS) from Procurement of food grains to Distribution to the beneficiaries (Sal';sham).

88888Annexu re-I ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARREDI QUESTION NO. 1730 FOR ANSWER ON 29.07.2026 IN THE LOK SABHA Estimated Percentage of Stateq/G Beneficiaries receiving the full foodgrain entitlement 97.4 Beneficiaries receiving monthly rations on a regular basis 97.6 Beneficiaries reporting accurate weighing during distribution 94.8 Beneficiaries collecting ration in a single FPS visit 85.5 Beneficiaries receiving ration within 30 minutes 85.0 Households primarily using ration for household consumption 94.5 Beneficiaries reporting easy access to FPS services 83.4 Beneficiaries satisfied with FPS service delivery 83.0 Beneficiaries satisfied with foodgrain quality 80.6 88###Annexu re-IT ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1730 FOR ANSWER ON 29.07.2026 IN THE LOK SABHA (Fig. in thousand tons) Foodgrain Allocation I Offtake Distribution Quantity No. of beneficiaries 2023-24 RICE 2947.320 2652.742 2615.601 WHEAT 1657.868 1475.758 1457.584 68,432, 1 63 TOTAL 4605. 188 4128.500 4073.185 2024-25 RICE 2812.929 2375.589 2563.252 WHEAT 1792.259 563.727 1552.088 6,80,73,038 TOTAL 4605.188 3939.316 4115.340 2025-26 RICE 2715.794 2738.316 2530.895 WHEAT 1889.393 160 1 .727 1611.149 67,802.516 TOTAL 4605. 187 4340.043 4142.044 8+88+