Parliament Question: Quality of Foodgrains Distributed under PDS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2817 TO BE ANSWERED ON 5TH AUGUST, 2026 QUALITY OF FOODGRAINS DISTRIBUTED UNDER PDS 2817 SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI:

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

to state:

(a) whether the Government monitors the quality of rice, wheat and other foodgrains supplied under the Public Distribution System (PDS);

(b) if so, the details of the number of complaints received regarding poor quality, damaged or inedible foodgrains, State/UT and district-wise including Telangana;

(c) the details of the number of inspections conducted and action taken against responsible agencies; and

(d) the details of the steps taken by the Government to improve storage, transport, quality testing and grievance redressal under PDS? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR MiNISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS.

FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)

(a) & (b): Yes. The Department has formulated and issued a Quality Control Manual to uniformly maintain the quality standards of foodgrains from procurement, storage and its distribution to the eligible beneficiaries through various social security programmes of Government of India.

Further, no complaint received regarding quality of foodgrains supplied under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

(c): Regular surveillance, monitoring, inspection and random sampling of various food products including foodgrains under the Public Distribution System are being carried out by the Food Safety Departments of the respective States/UTs to check compliance with the quality and safety parameters laid down under Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 and Regulations made there under.

Any Food Business Operators (FBOs) found in contravention of the provisions of the FSS Act, 2006, and Regulations made thereunder face penal actions as per the provisions of the Act.(d): The details on the steps taken by the Government to improve storage, transport, quality

testing and grievance redressal under PDS are as under:

Storage: Government continuously assesses and monitors the storage capacity and based on the storage gap assessment, storage capacities are created/hired through following schemes: • Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme, • Central Sector Scheme (CSS) “Storage & Godowns (Focus on NE), • Hiring ofgodown from CWC/SWCs/State Agencies, • Private Warehousing Scheme (PWS), • Creation ofgodown under Asset Monetization, • Construction of SILOs under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode • Modified PEG scheme for NE& Hilly states with longer guarantee period of 1 5 years • CAP hiring Scheme

Transport: A GPS enabled live tracking solution viz. Vehicle Location Tracking System (VLTS) has been developed by the Department. This project aims to introduce a vehicle tracking system for continuous monitoring of vehicles used to transport foodgrains in order to preventing the pilferage/theft of PDS foodgrains during movement.

Quality testing: The Quality Management System (QMS) has been developed by the Department to monitor laboratory activities on real time basis. This system aims to enhance operational planning, improve quality control of foodgrains, ensure greater reliability and accuracy throughout the procurement, preservation, and end-to-end supply chain processes offoodgrains

Grievance redressal: • Universal availability of 1967/ 1800-series toll-free helplines across all States/UTs. • Introduction of Anna Sahayata, an advanced AI-enabled Whats/Ipp and IVRS-based grievance redressal system, allowing beneficiaries to lodge complaints in their own language.

• IVlera Ration Mobile App, which enables beneficiaries to check their entitlements, member and demographic details, last month’s distribution status, nearby FPS location, and to lodge grievances directly through the app.

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