CONCURRENT EVALUATION OF Implementation OF NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT, 2013 IN - AND DISTRICTS

Monitoring Institution University of Kerala September 2019

Report prepared by:

Nodal officer : Dr. Manju S. Nair (Professor, Department of Economics, University of Kerala)

Committee Members : Dr.Prasad A.K. (Professor, University of Kerala)

Dr.G.Raju, Professor and Head, Department of Commerce, University of Kerala

Technical Assistants : Ancy John

Table of Content

Introduction 7 1.1 NFSA in Kerala 8 1.2 Distribution of Ration Cards 8 1.3 Objectives and scope of the study 10 11 1.4 Sample selection and timelines 11 1.5 Data collection and analysis 11 1.6 Limitations of the study 12 1.7 Executive Summary

Chapter 2 12 2.1 Description of study area/sample 17 2.2 Beneficiary selection and ration card management 20 2.3 Quality of data- Aadhar, mobile and bank account seeding 23

Chapter 3 25 3.1 Fair Price Shop Profile 25 3.2 Accessibility 26 3.3 Quality of storage 26 26 3.4 Viability of Operations 27 3.5 Revenue details of the FPS 28 3.6 Commission of FPS 30 3.8 Expenditure details of FPS dealer 31 3.9 Profit and loss of FPS dealer (July) 33 3.10 Issues with use of e-POS 33 3.11 Biometric Authentication status of the sample beneficiaries 34

Chapter 4 37 4.1 Godown 37

Chapter 5 41 5.1 Percentage off take by households in the sample FPS 44 5.2 Food grain quantity purchase and price vis-à-vis entitlements 49 5.3 Perception of beneficiaries about quality of food grains 44 51 5.4 Timely availability of food grains 56 5.5 Consumption of food grain by households 56 and share of PDS food 59 5.6 Nature of subsidy and functioning of FPS 60 5.7 Enhancing activities of FPS 5.8 Coverage under portability 60

Chapter 6 67 6.1 Key Findings of the Study 66 6.2 Recommendations 71

ANNEXURE

List of Tables

Sl.No Table No Title 1 1.1 Category-wise Distribution Details of Food Grains under NFSA 2 2. 1 Gender of Household Head 3 2. 2 Characteristics of Household members 4 2. 3 Occupation pattern of the head of the household 5 2. 4 Number of eldest women recognized as head of the household in the NFSA Ration card 6 2.5 Awareness of the eligibility criteria for availing benefits 7 2.6 Awareness regarding process of modification of ration card 8 2.7 Level of awareness of procedure among ration card holders 9 2.8 Satisfaction level of card holders 10 2.9 Status of Aadhar and ration card seeding 11 2.10 Status of Aadhar and Mobile number seeding 12 2.11 Mobile number and ration card seeding 13 3.1 Profile of Fair Price Shops 14 3.2 Off take of Sample FPS (July) 15 3.3 Commission received by the sample FPS in July) 16 3.4 Total Revenue of FPS dealer (July) 17 3.5 Total expenditure of FPS dealer (July) 18 3.6 Profit/Loss of FPS dealer (July) 19 3.7 Biometric authentication for the sample FPS 20 3.8 Biometric Authentication for Malappuram and Thrissur 21 3.9 Extent of usage of epos by beneficiaries 22 3.10 Efficiency of epos machines 23 3.11 Availing printed receipt from e-Pos machine in local language 24 3.12 Average time taken to complete one transaction through e-Pos 25 3.13 Profile of Fair Price Shops 26 4.1 List of Go downs 27 5.1 Price of rice from PDS 28 5.2 Price of Wheat from PDS 29 5.3 Price of sugar from PDS 30 5.4 Quantity of rice entitled for sample households from PDS 31 5.5 Quantity of wheat entitled for sample households from PDS 32 5.6 Quantity of sugar entitled for sample households from PDS 33 5.7 Average cost incurred by beneficiary to avail FPS services 34 5.8 Quota of food grains received by households 35 5.9 Category wise response: quota of food grains received by households

36 5.10 Reasons for not getting full quota of food grains as reported by beneficiary house holds 37 5.11 Experience the problem of under-weighment of commodities 38 5.12 Percentage of beneficiaries launched complaint 3*9 5.13 Percentage of respondent overcharged for food grains 40 5.14 Sample of food grains displayed at the ration shop 41 5.15 Respondents receiving same quality of food grains as the sample displayed at the ration shop 42 5.16 Foreign particles in the food grains received 43 5.17 Complains Launched about inferior quality of food grains 44 5.18 Distance to Fair Price shop 45 5.19 Information regarding availability of food 46 5.20 Number of working days of the ration shop 47 5.21 Number of hours ration shops open for distribution of food grains 48 5.22 Satisfaction level of beneficiaries with the timing of distribution of food grains

49 5.23 Special dispensation for old, infirm, physically challenged 50 5.24 Level of difficulty experienced by beneficiaries (old and disabled) 51 5.25 Usage of toll-free helpline for TPDS 52 5.26 Rice consumption pattern of selected households 53 5.27 Wheat consumption pattern of selected households 54 5.28 Average quantity of rice consumed by households 55 5.29 Average quantity of wheat consumed by households 56 5.30 Preference towards cash subsidy instead of food grains 57 5.31 Reasons for preferring food subsidy over cash subsidy 58 5.32 Additional facilities utilised in FPS 59 5.33 Additional facilities preferred by households in FPS 60 5.34 Opinion about role of PDS 61 5.35 District wise comparison of portability 62 5.36 Portability among the beneficiaries of sample FPS 63 5.37 Trend of portability 64 5.38 Percentage of sample households avail the benefits of portability 65 5.39 Go to nearest / Convenient FPS

66 5.40 Get right quality / Price

67 5.41 PDS dealer behavior

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

The enactment of National Food Security Act, (NFSA) 2013 on July 5, 2013 marks a paradigm shift in the approach to food security from welfare to rights based approach. The Act legally entitles up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under Targeted Public Distribution System. About two thirds of the population therefore is covered under the Act to receive highly subsidized food grains. The National Food Security Act, (NFSA) 2013 is being implemented in all the States/UTs, on an all basis. The identification of beneficiaries by States/UTs is a continuous process, which involves exclusion of ineligible/fake/duplicate ration cards and also exclusion on account of death, migration etc. and inclusion on account of birth as also that of genuine left-out households. The eligible persons (priority households) are entitled to receive 5 Kgs of food grains per person per month and the subsidized prices must not be greater than Rs. 3/2/1 per Kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains. The existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, will continue to receive 35 Kgs of food grains per household per month. NFSA relies on four existing programs to provide food and nutritional security: • Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) • The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) • The Mid Day Meal (MDM) program • The Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY)

While TPDS provides food grains to approximately 813.4 million Indians under NFSA, the ICDS and MDM programs ensure a free meal to all children aged six months to 14 years at the Anganwadi (childcare centers) and schools, respectively. The IGMSY program provides all pregnant and lactating mothers a maternity benefit of Rs.6000.

1.1 NFSA Kerala

Government of Kerala started NFSA implementation in the State with effect from November 1, 2016. Under the NFSA, End to End computerization of the entire chain of the Public Distribution System has been planned with the objectives of reducing leakages, improving, targeting and reducing the economic cost of distribution. It also involves introduction of electronic point of sale (e-pos) at the ARD(Authorized Ration Dealer), supply chain management from the FCI(Food Corporation of India) to the ARD level, biometric authentication for retail and wholesale transactions, providing decision support systems in a GIS based graphic interface to ensure an effective, responsive, transparent, efficient and corruption free PDS. Supplyco has been entrusted with the implementation of the door step delivery of rationed articles under PDS in Kerala. Keeping in line with the NFSA, the took measures to identify eligible households. In Kerala, the process of renewal of existing ration cards coincided with the statutory provisions of the NFSA. As mandated in the NFSA, “priority” and “non-priority” ration cards replaced the BPL and APL cards respectively. The NFSA has fixed a ceiling cap on the rural and urban population to be included in the priority list as 75 per cent and 50 per cent respectively. For this state wise ranking of the beneficiaries was conducted. Source: Kerala Economic Review 2018-19 1.2 Distribution of Ration Cards

In Kerala four types of ration cards with different colour codes for households came into existence as part of the implementation of NFSA. The yellow colour code represents the AAY card, the Priority card comes in pink colour, the non-priority subsidy card is blue in colour and the white colour cards are the non-priority non subsidy ones. The number of ration cardholders in Kerala as on September in the State is 8641075. Out of the total ration cards, 3687215 cards come under NFSA and 4953860 come under Non NFSA. The NFSA section includes 588164 AAY cards and 3099051 priority cards. The non NFSA section includes 2542347 Non Priority Subsidy cards and 2411513 Non Priority Non Subsidy cards. Category-wise card holders in Kerala as on September 2019, (in per cent) (yellow, pink, blue, white) is depicted in the following pie diagram. Percentage share of card holders show that there are 6.80 percent of AAY card holders, 35.86 percent of PHH card holders, 29.42 percent of NPS card holders and 27.90 percent of NPNS cardholders in Kerala. Figure No. 1 Category wise distribution of cards in the state of Kerala as on June 2019

NPNS 29.42% 27.90% PHH AAY 6.80% 35.86% NPS

(Source: https://civilsupplieskerala.gov.in/)

Table 1.1 Category-wise Distribution Details of Food Grains under NFSA as on June 2019

Sl. Rice Wheat Aatta No 1 AAY 30 Kg/Month/House 5 Kg/Month/House hold hold (free of Cost) (free of Cost) 2 PHH 4Kg/Month/member 1Kg/Month/member (2.00Rs/Kg) (2.00Rs/Kg)

3 Non 2Kg/Member/Month 3Kg/Month/House Priority (4.00Rs/Kg) hold (17.00Rs/Kg) (State Subsidy) 4 10.90Rs/Kg as per 8.70Rs/Kg as per the 3Kg/Month/House Non the availability of availability of Stock hold Priority Stock (17.00Rs/Kg) (Non Subsidy) (Source: https://civilsupplieskerala.gov.in/) The rate of food grains has increased by Rs.1/Kg for Priority card and Non NFSA card holders as part of boosting the income of ration shop dealers from month of December, 2018 onwards. Those categorized as the poorest of poor under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme of the Centre were exempted.

1.3 Objectives and scope of the study Concurrent evaluation of NFSA is done to provide fairly good information of outputs and key outcome indicators on quarterly basis. Objectives of the study are stated as follows: • Assess and analyze the progress of implementation of various aspects of NFSA, 2013. • Evaluate the benefits of NFSA on the target groups to achieve the objectives of NFSA. • Evaluate the performance of FPS.

Scope of the study

The concurrent evaluation of NFSA is conducted on a quarterly basis. Two districts are covered in the quarter, the districts being Malappuram and Thrissur.

1.4 Sample selection and timelines

Five villages/urban wards (where FPS located) from rural/urban areas in each district is randomly selected. In each village, 15 sample NFSA beneficiary households (10 PHH and 5 AAY) are selected using systematic random sampling method. Adequate representation of SC/ST poor and vulnerable population is also ensured in the sample. In addition to the 15 NFSA households 5 Fair price Shops are also covered under the study.

Data Collection Timelines: July 15-July 30 (covered ) August 20 - August 30th ()

1.5 Data collection and analysis

Data collected from FPS dealers and godowns were analyzed to understand the issues relating FPS management and supply chain management. Data from household survey is used to analyze timely availability, percentage off take and perception relating to quality and quantity of food grains received from FPS. Along with that aspect of portability, silent ration cards were analyzed.

1.6 Limitations of the study The results of the study are based on the 5 FPS selected both from Malappuram and Thrissur districts. All together there are 1243 FPS and 1197 FPS in Malappuram and Thrissur districts respectively, and hence care should be taken while generalizing the results. Only 50 PHH and 25 AAY card holders are selected from each district, from the of total card holders in each district. The socio-economic and cultural specifics of the local situation in which the FPS is situated also effects the factors affecting utilization of FPS.

1.7 Executive Summary One of the major objectives of implementation of NFSA was to find out the real eligible household for the benefits through appropriate beneficiary selection and ration card management. Exclusion criteria were set in by the government and all card holders were given new ration cards as per the new criteria. The total number of households coming under NFSA in Malappuram district is 275509 and 127173 in Thrissur and the total number of beneficiaries coming under non NFSA is 307797 in Malappuram and 211633 in Thrissur. The sample survey of households, show that the entire samples selected were eligible to receive the benefits and this reveals that in general, new cards were issued taking into consideration the exclusion criteria. However, there are incidents were the household reporting ineligible holders of Priority as well as Antyodhaya cards. This calls for need of extensive filtering and ration card management. Many households are not aware of the process of applying for new or duplicate ration card/ member addition and selection etc. Even though government has introduced many facilities including online facility, CSC, block level centers etc. to submit applications for modification of ration cards, most of the beneficiaries are following the traditional techniques such as applying through the concerned ration shop owner or submitting applications at Civil Supplies office directly. These results in delay in completion of due procedures and many sample households raised apprehensions regarding this inefficiency. Most of the households have seeded their mobile number and Aadhar card with ration card, but still issues arise in relation to smooth working of these systems. However, all households welcome the new initiatives from the part Civil Supplies Department. The distribution cycle for food grains followed in the State is monthly and the FPSs are mapped to the nearest godown. All godowns at district/ block level are automated with Computer, Printer, CCTVs and UPS etc. and internet connectivity/ power is ensured. Online Allocation Orders is system generated from State level, up to Fair Price Shops and closing balance of FPS & ration card numbers/ entitlements are fetched automatically. There is shortage of person power to handle supply chain management at Block and District level. Stock position of all godowns & FPSs are captured online in real time manner and Delivery Orders, Release Orders, Truck Challans, etc. for NFSA commodities are generated from system. There is facility for dispatch of SMS Alerts of food grain arrival to citizens/beneficiaries/FPS Dealers and details of allocation, off take and distribution are reported correctly on NFSA dashboard. Of the total five FPS taken randomly from each district, two belong to urban area and three belong to rural area and analysis gives insights in to the issues relating to FPS management. The analysis showed that all sample FPS have pucca road accessibility and there is no major issue with the door step delivery mechanism, and is properly working without any extra cost for the sample FPS dealers. However, there are incidents reported in some cases as the doorstep delivery is not taking place and even when door step delivery works, proper quantity is not reaching the ration shops due to inconvenience in weighing the load at each ration shops. Area wise comparison of off take shows that FPS in rural area of Malappuram performed well against the FPS in Urban area and in Thrissur FPSs in urban area performed well against rural areas. Similarly, area wise comparison of profit/loss of urban and rural area shows that, the sample FPS in the urban area of Malappuram and ruaral area of Thrissur performed well. In Malappuram the portability has negatively affected the performance of rural FPS but not in the case of Thrissur. Issues related to supply chain management and door step delivery in Malappuram district and Thrissur is also studied. Taluk wise godown faces an issue related to irregularities in weighment of bags. FPS owners also reported underweight of the unloaded food grains from the Supplyco godown. The infrastructure facilities of godowns are not adequate in both districts; there is no good working condition for labors in the godowns. The building of NFSA godown in TSO, in Malappuram district, is found to be built in the year 1956, the building has very less storage capacity and is prone to leakage, pest attack. There is a leakage of minimum 1 to 2kgs of food gains from each bag as reported. Total transactions in the districts are 298010 and 217929 for Malappuram and Thrissur respectively. Percentages of manual transactions against availed cards are 2.89 in Malappuram and 2.69 in Thrissur district. With regard to the biometric authentication facility installed at various FPS, successful distribution of food grains and kerosene through biometric authentication is happening with an average biometric authentication rate of 96.08 percent, with Malappuram reporting 97.60 % and Thrissur 97.05%. Facility for authentication is available in case of biometric authentication failure. Best finger detection and fusion finger facility is available. Integrated electronic weighing machine is available at godowns and FPS. Local language interface is available and facility for giving printed receipt in local language is also available. Major reasons for not having cent percentage biometric authentication, as reported by FPS are low Aadhar seeding, finger print authentication failure and connectivity issues. Sample survey of households also reveals that both in Malappuram and in Thrissur, all sample households received their ration through epos machine. However, with regard to getting printed receipt, there is regional and category wise variation in the percentage of households who are getting a printed receipt after the transaction.

All FPSs except one(one is owned by a co-operative society) are owned privately and the average AAY cards, PHH cards, AAY members and PHH members in Malappuram district are 53140, 372220, 268967 and 1871539 respectively and the total allotment of food grains in the district is 5176079 kg(for AAY, 2159059kg and for PHH, 3017020 kg). The average of AAY cards, PHH cards, AAY members and PHH members in Thrissur district are 52586, 280355, 204959 and 1149570 respectively and the total allotment of food grains in the district is 8048310 kg (for AAY, 1971750 kg and for PHH, 4024068 kg). The commission rate for food grains is. 2Rs/kg for PHH, both for wheat and rice, Rs.2.26/kg for wheat and rice and Rs.2.75/kg for Atta for NPS and NPNS. There are no initiatives currently taken by State Government to include sale of Non PDS items through FPS. The FPS are also not acting as business correspondents or providing CSC operations. Household sample survey reveals the dependency of majority of households for rice, wheat and sugar in PDS system. One major issue related to food grain entitlement is that beneficiaries are not getting full quota of food grains. Around eight percentage of households in Malappuram district and twelve percentage beneficiaries in Thrissur district belonging to both category reported issue of under weighment of food grains. Two major reasons cited by beneficiaries in relation to this include refusal from the part of FPS owner to give full quota and lack of cash at the time of purchase. The analysis shows that beneficiary households were not getting the full quota of food grains allotted for them, and there is quantity mismatch in the food grains received by beneficiaries. However, beneficiaries are not over charged for the food grains. In addition, there are apprehensions relating to quality of food grains. Beneficiaries opine that sometimes low- quality rice and wheat are received from PDS. In addition, region specific and category specific difference is seen with regard to quality of food grains. Even after introducing seeding of mobile and Aadhar, information regarding arrival of monthly stock of food grains is known from the communication with the FPS dealer. Beneficiaries who are above 65/or disabled are not using any of the facilities ordained for them. Measures are currently being adopted for grievance redressal system in place to analyse and enforce quality of response by setting up vigilance committees at FPS level- The process of social audit has been initiated and pilot study has been done in district and report of the same has also submitted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Chapter 2 Beneficiary selection and ration card management

2.1. Description of study area/sample Demographic characteristics of sample population from both Malappuram and Thrissur district is analysed in the following section, in particular gender of household head, particulars of household members, occupation pattern and consumption pattern of household s are probed into.

2.1.1 Gender of household head The gender wise analysis of sample households shows that in both districts, Malappuram and Thrissur majority of the households are headed by females. Of the total 150 sample households only 3 from Malappuram district and 2 from Thrissur district are headed by male members. This is only in the cases where there are no adult female members in the family. That is a total 145, out of 150 sample households are headed by adult female members according to the ration card details.

Table No. 2.1 Gender of Household head Malappuram Thrissur Male Female Total Male Female Total 3 72 75 2 73 75 (4%) (96%) (100%) (2.66%) (97.33%) (100%) (Source: Primary Survey)

2.1.2 Details of Household members A total of seventy-five sample households are selected from each district and the total number of members from these households is 367 in Malappuram and 300 in Thrissur district. Of the total members in Malappuram, 197 are male members and 170 are females. In Thrissur district, there are 156 male members and 144 female members in the total sample. Twenty-nine members from Malappuram were above 65 years / disabled category and in Thrissur; thirty members belong to elderly/disabled category. Sixty seven members from Malappuram and seventy members from Thrissur belong to category of minor members. The average family size is 4.84 and 4 for Malappuram and Thrissur respectively.

Table No. 2. 2 Characteristics of Household members Particulars Malappuram Thrissur Total Mean SD Total Mean SD Number of male adult members 197 2.4 0.76 156 2.18 .89

Number of female adult 170 2.14 0.90 144 2.08 .75 members Adult members of the family 29 .37 .564 31 .37 .564 above 65 years or disabled

Total adult members 243 3.24 1.20 228 3.04 1.22

Number of male minor members 33 0.41 0.71 35 .6 .73 Number of female minor 34 .30 .61 35 .46 .60 members Total minor members 67 0.77 0.65 70 1.06 1.06

Total male members 274 1.82 1.70 168 1.12 .96

Total female members 141 .99 .99 142 .92 .81

Total household members 367 4.84 2.60 300 4 1.22

(Source: Primary Survey)

2.1.3 Occupation pattern of the head of the household Occupational pattern of sample households is the following table. In Malappuram, ninety three percentage of sample population are casual workers and four percentage are self-employed. Similarly in Thrissur also highest population of the sample depends on casual or daily wage jobs. Majority of the households are headed by female eldest members.

Table No. 2.3 Occupation pattern of the head of the household Occupation Malappuram Thrissur No: of Percentage No: of Percentage household household Casual / Daily 70 93.33 68 92.6 wage Self Employed 3 4 3 4 Others 2 2.66 1 1.33 Landless 0 0 2 2.67 Agriculture Labour Total 75 100 75 100

(Source: Primary Survey)

2.1.4. Eldest women (above 18) recognized as head of the household in the NFSA Ration card

In Malappuram district ninety-six percentage and in Thrissur districts, in ninety-seven percentage cases, eldest women (above 18) is recognized as head of households, this shows that the government regulation in this regard is complied.

2.4. Eldest women (above 18) recognized as head of the household in the NFSA Ration card

Response Malappuram Thrissur Number Percentage Number Percentage of households of households Yes 72 96 73 97.33 No 3 4 2 2.66 Total 75 100 75 100 (Source: Primary Survey) 2.2 Beneficiary selection and ration card management

2.2.1 Instances of eligible, but left out beneficiaries

Analysis of exclusion criteria showed that all the samples selected from both PHH and AAY from the two districts were eligible to receive the benefits under the respective scheme. However, instances of eligible, but left out beneficiaries were identified during the field survey. Some households were eligible to come under the NFSA act, but during the beneficiary identification process they were not included. They were holding NPNS ration cards and thus their food security was affected.

2.2.2 Effectiveness of mechanism to identify eligible / ineligible beneficiaries

Most important mechanism to identify eligible/ineligible beneficiaries is creation of awareness about the eligibility criteria for availing benefits of NFSA Act. The analysis shows that eighty percentage of households are aware of the eligibility criteria of the Act in Malappuram and seventy three percentage are aware in Thrissur district. There were instances in which the ration shop owners warned some of the beneficiaries regarding holding of ineligible cards in the initial stages of implementation of the act. And this helped to modify the ration cards based on eligibility criteria. Similarly, all ration inspectors are given direction from the Civil Supplies Department to visit each and every house of beneficiaries under the act, so that ineligible beneficiaries can be found and stringent action can be taken against them. However, during the random sample survey, the field investigators met households who are eligible for PHH/AAY card but are left out from the scheme.

Table No. 2.5 Awareness of the eligibility criteria for availing benefits

Malappuram Thrissur No. Percentage No. Percentage of households of households Aware of the 60 80 55 73 eligibility

(Source: primary survey)

2.2.3 Ease in applying for new ration card / modification etc.

There is very less awareness regarding the process of modification or applying for new ration cards. Only forty and twenty percentage, from Malappuram and Thrissur district respectively, of the sample has reported as they know the process for modification of ration cards. Even if it is applied for, the time taken for completion of this process is very long. During the household survey, some cases were reported in which the applications for issue of new cards or modification of cards were submitted to the Department of Civil supplies two or three months ago and no decision was taken till date.

2.2.4 Process of modification/ deletion

Awareness of the process of applying for new or duplicate ration card/ member addition & deletion etc. is analyzed in the following table

Table no. 2.6 Awareness regarding process of modification of ration card

Name of the District No. of Percentage households Malappuram Yes 30 40

No 45 60

Total 75 100 Thrissur Yes 15 20

No 60 80 Total 75 100

(Source: primary survey)

From the table it is evident that only about 40 percent and 20 percent of beneficiaries are aware of the process of applying for new/duplicate ration card and to make member addition and deletion.

2.2. 5 Level of awareness of procedure

Even though government has introduced many facilities including online facility, CSC, block level centers etc. to submit applications for modification of ration cards, most of the beneficiaries are following the traditional techniques such as applying through the concerned ration shop owner or submitting applications at Civil Supplies office directly. The following table clearly shows that around ninety-eight percentage of the beneficiaries are not aware of the online/CSC facilities introduced by the Civil Supplies Department. Because of this, it becomes very difficult to complete the process of modification /deletion. Many of the households are not familiar with using internet and they are not comfortable with modern facility. Both the districts reveal same pattern regarding this issue.

Table No.2.7 Level of awareness of procedure among ration card holders Facility Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Yes Percenta No Percen Yes Percenta No percentage ge tage ge Online facility 1 1.33 74 98.67 0 0 75 100 CSC / Village level 0 0 75 100 70 93.33 0 0 entrepreneurs Block level centres 75 100 0 0 75 100 0 100 Others 0 0 75 100 0 0 75 100

(Source: primary survey) 2.2.6 Satisfaction level of card holders about the FPS facility

Regarding the satisfaction level of beneficiaries with regard to applying for new ration card, eighty-four percentage of households in Malappuram and eighty percentage beneficiaries in Thrissur felt satisfied about the FPS facility, reflecting a very good opinion about the FPS facility.

Table No.2.8 Satisfaction level of card holders Response Malappuram Thrissur

No :of household Percentage No :of household Percentage Neutral 13 15.66 13 17.33 Satisfied 62 84.33 60 80 Dissatisfied 0 0 2 2.66 Total 75 100 75 100

(Source: primary survey)

2.3 Quality of data- Aadhar, mobile and bank account seeding

One important measure adopted recently to improve quality of FPS system is the introduction of online facility in the system and connecting Aadhar number and bank account with ration card. Following is an analysis of extend and reach of this new facility among PHH and AAY card holders.

2.3.1 Aadhar and ration card seeding

The following table shows that, of the total sample selected from two districts, at least one member from each family have linked their Aadhar number to ration card.

Table No.2.9 Status of Aadhar and ration card seeding

Type of Malappuram (No: Thrissur (No: of household) ration card of household) Yes percent No Percent Yes Percent No Percent PHH 48 96 2 4 50 100 0 0 AAY 23 92 2 8 25 100 0 0

(Source: primary survey)

2.3.2 Aadhar number and mobile seeding Similarly, cent percentage of AAY households and PHH households have linked Aadhar number with mobile in both districts.

Table No.2.10 Status of Aadhar and Mobile number seeding Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Aadhar number linked with Aadhar number linked with mobile mobile Yes Percent No Percent Yes Percent No percent PHH 50 100 1 2 50 100 0 0 AAY 25 100 0 0 25 100 0 0

(Source: primary survey)

2.3.3 Mobile number and ration card seeding

Table No.2.11 Mobile number and ration card seeding among Sample Households

Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Mobile number is linked with ration Mobile number is linked with card ration card Yes Percentage No Percentag Yes Percentage No percentage e PHH 50 100 0 0 50 100 0 0 AAY 25 100 0 0 25 100 0 0

(Source: primary survey)

The above tables show seeding of mobile number with ration card. Hundred percentage of beneficiaries have seeded mobile number with ration card. All the AAY members and PHH members have linked both Aadhar number and mobile number with ration card.

Chapter 3

Fair Price Shop Management

3.1 Fair Price Shop Profile Profile of the fair price shops selected as samples is provided in Table. As already discussed in the sample selection part, out of the three fair price shops selected from each district, two belong to urban area and three belong to rural area.

Table No. 3.1 Profile of Fair Price Shops Distri Area Shop Owner name Shop No. TSO and village /ward ct Shop 1 Rajudas 2056005 Ponnani Urban Shop 2 TCRB 2054215 Thirur

Shop 3 Sugathakumari 2056035 Ponnani

Shop 4 Rural Chandrashekaran 2056025 Ernad

Shop 5 C. P. Ummar 2054242 Thirur

Malappurama Shop 1 K. C. Sukumaran 1845154 Kodungaloor Urban Shop 2 Shyju K. S. 1841087 Thrissur

Shop 3 K. U. Pushpa 1845187 Kodungaloor

Shop 4 Rural Jhonny V. V. 1844010 Chavakad

Shop 5 Niclaus 1844030 Chavakad

Thrissur (Source: https://epos.kerala.gov.in/)

3.2 Accessibility All samples FPS have pucca road accessibility. There is no issue with the door step delivery mechanism, it is properly working without any extra cost for the sample FPS dealers. However there are cases reported by the FPS dealers were the distributors are not ready to weigh during delivery in the presence of the dealers. Delay in door step delivery is not reported in both districts. 3.3 Quality of storage

Most of the FPSs is well maintained. All sample FPSs were painted uniformly as per the new regulations of state government. Some of the shops do not have adequate space to store the grains. The FPS dealers are reported to have health issues due to congested room and lack of ventilation in the shops.

3.4 Viability of Operations

3.4.1 Payment of commissions and pendency of payments

Frequency District Within a Within Within a More than a week fortnight month month Malappuram 0 0 4 1 Thrissur 0 0 4 1 Percent 0 0 80 20 (Source: Primary survey) For eighty percent of the FPS, commission is received within a month and for twenty per cent reported, commission is received in more than a month time period.

3.5 Revenue details of the FPS

3.5.1 Off take of Sample FPS (July) Area wise comparison of off take of sample FPS is given below.

DISTRICT Area SHOPS Total Off requirement take (in kg) (in Off kg) take% Urban SHOP1 19492 20014 102.70% Urban SHOP2 15836 13766 86.90% Malappuram Rural SHOP3 13825 12926 93.50% Rural SHOP4 21073 19265 91.40% Rural SHOP5 19477 21253 109.10% Urban SHOP1 7620 7695 101.00% Thrissur Urban SHOP2 17653 13837 78.40% Rural SHOP3 6527 5785 88.60% Rural SHOP4 5905 4363 73.90% Rural SHOP5 8188 9204 112.40% (Source: https://epos.kerala.gov.in/) The area wise comparison of off takes shows that FPS in rural areas of both districts performed well against urban areas. The highest off take percentage among all the five shops is in Malappuram district is Shop 5 that is 109.10 percent. This shop has 1209 cards and 5832 members. In Thrissur district highest off take is in shop 5, which has 112.40 percent offtake. This shop has 624 cards and 2498 beneficiaries.

3.6 Commission of FPS

The commission of the Fair price owner is fixed by the Civil Supplies Department of the State. As per the recommendation of package committee, a ration owner is entitled to receive Rs.220 per quintal (Rs.2.20/kg) of food grains as commission. FPS owners receive a part of the commission from the sale of monthly entitled commodities. Balance commission based on the off take of the shop is credited to the owners account directly by the civil supplies department. The department assures a minimum commission of Rs.18000/- for the FPS having a sale not less than 45 quintals. An FPS with a requirement less than 45 quintal gets a commission and supportive payment of Rs.8500/-. An FPS with a requirement in between 45 quintal and 75 quintal and having a 100% sale receive a supportive payment to achieve the minimum commission of Rs.18000/-. The amount received from the sale of food grains and kerosene includes a share of commission that can be collected directly as price margin (sales price - purchase price) by the FPS dealer which is fixed by the civil supplies department. From priority card holder FPS dealer can collect Rs. 2/kg for rice and wheat. From state priority cards (NPS and NPNS Cards) dealer can charge additional 2.26/kg and for Atta an additional charge is Rs. 2.75/kg. Balance amount of commission is credited to the account of FPS owner.

Table No.3.3 Commission received by the sample FPS in July

Commission Balance already paid commission Total Average District Area FPS (in the form of (to be commission commission price margin) Credited )

40123 SHOP1 37745 8180 45925 Urban SHOP2 26462 7859 34321 SHOP3 23629 9538 33167 41966.33 Rural SHOP4 36537 8040 44577

Malappuram SHOP5 41746 6409 48155 SHOP1 13588 10163 23751 Urban 29279 SHOP2 25524 9283 34807 SHOP3 9217 11096 20313 21593.33 Rural SHOP4 8222 9778 18000

Thrissur SHOP5 17759 8708 26467 (Source: Directorate of Civil Supplies)

In both districts all FPS received a commission more than Rs.18000 or equal to Rs. 18000. Average commission for the month of July for rural and urban areas of Malappuram stood at Rs. 40123 and Rs. 41966.33 respectively. In the case of Thrissur, urban area received higher average commission compared to the FPS in rural areas. The commission amount is Rs.29279 and Rs. 21593.33 respectively.

3.7 Total Revenue of FPS dealer Total revenue of FPS dealer is calculated in the following table.

Table No.3.4 Total Revenue of FPS dealer (July)

Commission Balance Sale of already paid commission Gunny Total Average District Area FPS (in the form on sale of Bag Revenue Revenue of price rice, wheat margin) and atta 42153 SHOP1 37745 8180 1560 47485 Urban SHOP2 26462 7859 2500 36821 SHOP3 Rural 23629 9538 2500 35667 44999.67

SHOP4 36537 8040 3000 47577 Malappuram SHOP5 41746 6409 3600 51755 SHOP1 13588 10163 1680 25431 31619 Urban

SHOP2 25524 9283 3000 37807

SHOP3 9217 11096 2500 22813 Rural SHOP4 8222 9778 3000 21000 24093.33

SHOP5 17759 8708 2000 28467 Thrissur (Source: Directorate of Civil Supplies) Average total revenue received by FPS owners in urban area in Malappuram during the month of July 2019 is Rs. 42153 and in rural area it is Rs. 44999.67. The corresponding fugues for urban and rural areas in Thrissur are Rs. 31619 and Rs. 24093.33 respectively.

3.8 Expenditure details of FPS dealer Total monthly expenditure is calculated in the following table

Table No.3.5 Total expenditure of FPS dealer (July) excluding the rate of interest on working capital

Rent Total Expenses Average Salary of District Area FPS Electricity monthly employees expense

SHOP1 2500 9800

Urban 7000 300 9275 SHOP2 7000 1350 400 8750 SHOP3 7000 3600 250 10850 Rural SHOP4 9000 2800 180 11980 12610

SHOP5 9000 5500 500 15000 Malappuram SHOP1 6000 2000 350 8350 Urban 8700

SHOP2 7000 1800 250 9050

SHOP3 7500 2000 350 9850 Rural SHOP4 8000 2000 280 10280 9493.33

SHOP5 6500 1500 350 8350 Thrissur (Source: Primary Survey) Average monthly expenses of FPS owners in urban areas in Malappuram is 9275 Rs. and in rural areas it is Rs 12610, the corresponding figures for FPS in urban and rural areas of Thrissur are Rs. 8700 and Rs.9493.33 respectively. Major chunk of expenses is incurred on salary of employees. Average monthly salary of labor employed in FPS is Rs.7400/. Even though in some cases, the building where the FPS is located is owned by the FPS dealer, the imputed rent has to be considered while calculating the cost. The average expenses in rural area are high in both districts.

Table No.3.5 Total expenditure of FPS dealer (July) including the rate of interest on working capital

Interest Total on Expenses Rent working Average Salary of District Area FPS Electricity capital monthly employees (at the expense rate 12%) SHOP1 2500 2369.52 12169.52

Urban 7000 300 11281.76 SHOP2 7000 1350 400 1644 10394 SHOP3 7000 3600 250 1755.84 12605.84 Rural SHOP4 9000 2800 180 1880.4 13860.4 14982.08

SHOP5 9000 5500 500 3480 18480 Malappuram SHOP1 6000 2000 350 2352 10702 Urban 10509.6

SHOP2 7000 1800 250 1267.2 10317.2

SHOP3 7500 2000 350 1680 11530

issur Rural SHOP4 8000 2000 280 1231.2 11511.2 11663.7333

SHOP5 6500 1500 350 3600 11950 Thr

While calculating the expenses of FPSs it is important to assume there is an opportunity cost for the initial deposit or working capital which is paid by the ration shop dealers in order to release the food grains for distribution. The current working capital interest prevailing in India is twelve percentage, therefore this percentage of working capital is added to the respective shops’ total expenses. Calculating the total expenses in this way, Shop 5, which is a rural FPS in Malappuram has the highest expenses accounting to Rs.18480

3.9 Profit and loss of FPS dealer (July)

Table No.3.6 Profit/Loss of FPS dealer (July) Without Considering the Rate of Interest on Working Capital Profit/ Loss Average District Area FPS Total Revenue Total expenses (net income) Profit/ Loss

SHOP1 47485 9800 37685 32878 Urban SHOP2 36821 8750 28071 SHOP3 35667 10850 24817 32389.67 Rural SHOP4 47577 11980 35597

SHOP5 51755 15000 36755 Malappuram SHOP1 25431 8350 17081 22919 Urban SHOP2 37807 9050 28757

SHOP3 22813 9850 12963 14600 Rural SHOP4 21000 10280 10720

SHOP5 28467 8350 20117 Thrissur (Source: Directorate of civil supplies)

Area wise comparison of profit/loss of urban and rural area shows that, the sample FPS in the urban areas of both districts performed well. The shops in urban area of Malappuram earned an average of 32878 while average of FPS in rural areas here earned 32390.. Data from Thrissur shows clear difference in profit values. Here also urban FPSs has higher profit compared to rural shops.

Table No.3.6 (2) Profit/Loss of FPS dealer (July) Excluding the Rate of Interest on Working Capital Total Total Profit/ Loss Average Profit/ District Area FPS Revenue expenses (net income) Loss SHOP1 47485 12169.52 35315 Urban 30871.24 SHOP2 36821 10394 26427 SHOP3 35667 12605.84 23061.16 Rural SHOP4 47577 13860.4 33716.6 30017.5867

SHOP5 51755 18480 33275 Malappuram SHOP1 25431 10702 14729 Urban 21109.4 SHOP2 37807 10317.2 27489.8 SHOP3 22813 11530 11283 Rural SHOP4 21000 11511.2 9488.8 12429.6

SHOP5 28467 11950 16517 Thrissur (Source: Directorate of civil supplies)

Profit after considering the rate of interest on working capital is Rs.30871 and Rs. 30018 respectively in urban and rural areas of Malappuram while it is Rs. 21109 and Rs. 12429 in Thrissur. In both districts profits in urban areas are higher than in rural areas. Highest profit is earned by Shop 1, in Malappuram, as this shop has the largest number of ration cards compared to other shops.

Figure No.2(1) Expenses, Revenue and Profit/loss of FPS dealers

60000 50000 40000 Revenue 30000 Expenses 20000 Profit/Loss 10000 0 SHOP1 SHOP2 SHOP3 SHOP4 SHOP5 SHOP1 SHOP2 SHOP3 SHOP4 SHOP5

(Source: https://epos.kerala.gov.in/ Figure No.2(2) Expenses, Revenue and Profit/loss of FPS dealers (Excluding the Rate of Interest on Working Capital) 60000

50000

40000 Revenue 30000 Expenses 20000 Profit/Loss 10000

0 SHOP1 SHOP2 SHOP3 SHOP4 SHOP5 SHOP1 SHOP2 SHOP3 SHOP4 SHOP5

(Source: https://epos.kerala.gov.in/

3.10 Issues with use of e-POS From the sample study based on FPS in the two districts, it is identified that successful distribution of food grains and kerosene through biometric authentication is happening with an average biometric authentication rate of 98.61 percent in whole Kerala, with sample FPSs in Malappuram reporting 99.04 % and Thrissur 98.98%.

Table No. 3.7 Biometric authentication for the sample FPS (July)

Shop Month of July Area

Total Cards Availed Cards Total card authent ication % Bio metric authent ication % Manual authent ication %

Urban Shop1 892 889 99.66 99.88 0.11 Shop2 791 665 81.66 99.06 0.93 Rural Shop3 832 759 91.22 99.20 0.79

Shop4 950 836 88 99.52 0.47 Malappuram Shop5 1209 1360 104.38 95.80 4.19 Urban Shop 1 606 587 96.86 99.82 0.17 Shop2 1298 1014 78.12 98.42 1.57 Rural Shop3 456 413 89.25 100 00 Shop4 433 290 66.67 96.89 3.10

Thrissur Shop5 624 623 99.83 99.83 0.16

Comparison of area wise authentication reveals that urban areas have high biometric authentication success rate compared to rural areas in Malappuram while in Thrissur rural areas have more biometric authentication success rate.

Table No. 3.8 Biometric authentication for Malappuram and Thrissur (July)

District Total Availed Total card Biometric Manual Cards (in cards authentication % authentication authentication FPS) (against availed (against availed cards) cards) Malappuram 922274 871672 94.51 99.04 0.95 Thrissur 823709 727462 88.31 98.98 1.01 Total 8579608 7626938 88.89 98.61 1.38 (Source: https://epos.kerala.gov.in/)

For the district as a whole, on the basis of secondary data available online, it is identified that distribution of food grains to beneficiaries through biometric authentication is highly successful in both Malappuram (99.04%) district and Thrissur (98.98%) in the month of July, 2019. 3.10.1 Reasons for Authentication Failure

Major reasons for biometric authentication failure as reported by FPS are low Aadhar seeding, finger print authentication failure and connectivity issues. Out of these issues, finger print authentication failure is a major issue reported by the fair price shop agents, along with that connectivity issues were also reported.

3.11 Biometric Authentication status of the sample beneficiaries

Efficiency of epos machines and opinion regarding usage of epos machine with regard to the card holders is analyzed.

Table No. 3.10 Extent of usage of epos by beneficiaries

Type of Malappuram (No. of household) Thrissur (No. of Household) ration card Yes % No % Yes % No % PHH 50 100 0 0 50 100 0 0 AAY 25 100 0 0 25 100 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey)

The table shows utilization of epos machine, both in Malappuram and in Thrissur; all sample households received their ration through epos machine. From these tables it is evident that the new facilities introduced by government are well received and most of the beneficiaries are receiving benefits. Ostensibly, this shows that there is quality enhancement in the PDS system with regard to distribution of food grains.

Table No. 3.11 Efficiency of epos machines

Type of Malappuram (No. of household) Thrissur ration (No. of Household) card Yes % No % Yes % No % PHH 40 80 10 20 50 100 0 0 AAY 20 80 5 20 25 100 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey)

Region wise difference is visible in the working of epos machine. In Malappuram, twenty percentage of PHH households and AAY household opines that epos machine is not working properly when they visit ration shops. However, in Thrissur, all households are satisfied with the working of epos machine. This shows that sometimes beneficiaries have to visit ration shop more than once to get food grains.

Table No. 3.12 Availing printed receipt from e-pos machine in local language Type of Malappuram (No. of household) Thrissur ration card (No. of Household) Yes % No % Yes % No % PHH 40 90 5 10 46 92 8 16 AAY 21 84 4 16 22 88 3 12 (Source: Primary Survey)

With regard to getting printed receipt, ten percentage from PHH category and sixteen percentage from AAY category are not getting printed receipt in Malappuram. In Thrissur district, ninety-two percentage of beneficiaries of PHH category and eighty-eight percentage of AAY households are getting printed receipt in local language. Compared to Thrissur, beneficiaries in Malappuram district are getting printed receipts, and this shows a possibility in reducing the problem of underweight of food grains received. During the survey, beneficiaries reported that some ration shop owners refuse to provide receipt even after the beneficiaries’ demand for receipts. This points to the issue of mismatch between the quantity printed in receipt and the actual quantity received by beneficiaries.

Table No. 3.13 Average time taken to complete one transaction through e-Pos

Average Malappuram Thrissur time (No. of household) (No. of Household) PHH AAY PHH AAY Yes % Yes % Yes % Yes % Less than 2 4 2 8 1 2 3 12 one minute 1-5 46 92 20 80 47 86 20 80 minutes More than 2 4 3 12 2 4 2 8 5 minutes (Source: Primary Survey) Most of the beneficiaries from Malappuram and Thrissur district opine that average time taken for transaction in epos machine is between one to five minutes. However, some of them are taking more than five minutes to complete one transaction.

Chapter 4 Supply Chain Management and Door Step Delivery

4.1 NFSA Depots The starting point of the supply chain of food grains in a state are NFSA depots. However, the storage capacity and infrastructure facilities in these points are in urgent need of attention in both districts under study. Malappuram district has seventeen godowns and Thrissur has seven godowns which are under the control of Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited. List of Godowns in Malappuram and Thrissur district are given below;

Table No.4.1 List of Go downs

Districts Godowns Pds Depot Angadippuram Malappuram Pds Depot Pds Depot Pds Depot Pds Depot Thirur, Nellikkad Pds Depot Thirur, Tanur Pds Depot Thirur, Tcrb Pds Depot Pds Depot Pds Depot Pds Depot Perinthalmanna Town Pds Depot Ponnani Pds Depot Ponnani Nariparambu Pds Depot Ponnani Thrikkavu Pds Depot Thirur, Chembra Pds Depot Thirur, Pds Depot Pds Depot 2 Veloor Chungam Pds Depot Pds Depot

Thrissur Pds Depot Nattika Pds Depot Mukundapuram Pds Depot Thalappilly Taluk Trissur Awd (Source: https://civilsupplieskerala.gov.in)

The door step delivery as mandated by the NFSA checks the leakages and diversion of food grains to a greater extent. Before the implementation of NFSA, Authorized Whole Sale Dealers were the main players in the delivery channel of the PDS system in Kerala. There were a number of cases reported against the bogus operations of AWDs in the state. As part of the implementation of NFSA, Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (Supplyco) has taken over the AWD operations in the state. The distribution of the commodities is accomplished through the Taluk depots. Once FCI transports grains to the taluk depots, distribution of food grains to end consumers is the responsibility of Civil supplies corporation. On receipt of food grains, states allocate the grains to each district and further to each Fair Price Shop (FPS; ration shop) within the first week of the month. This ensured a tremendous decrease in the leakages of food grains and other irregularities in the food distribution channel mainly from the private AWDs.

4.2 Operation of civil supplies corporation

• The district wise allotted quantity is to be lifted from the designated FCI depots, within the time limit. For the same, vehicles are required (either through hiring or ownership).

• The lifted quantity after transportation needs to be unloaded in a godown (hired additionally/owned) under the Supplyco taluk depot.

• From the godown, the stock requires to be loaded on to a vehicle and transported to the ARDs, weekly and delivered.

4.3 Major Findings form Field Visit

• Old and damaged buildings In both districts the NFSA depots are under poor infrastructure facilities. Sample depot from Ponnani TSO, under Malappuram district is on a severe condition, which is built in 1956 and not maintained thereafter. The quality of the food grains kept in this depot is under challenge. Attention must be given to maintain the building with better roofing and flooring.

• Working condition and poor sanitation facilities In both districts, there is lack of scientific and healthy infrastructure for workers in godowns. Improper ventilation in the buildings is creating severe health issues, like asthma and allergy among the workers. In Thrissur district the workers have reported lack of enough space in the godown. This is making the task of loading and unloading workers, herculean and dangerous. In the Supplyco godown in Thrissur district, there is no separate office room for the employees, which can adversely affect the health and working condition. There is also no proper sanitation facilities for the workers.

• Measures to assure quality Quality of the bags in which the food grains are packed must be improved to decrease the wastage of food grains. FPS owners become the ultimate victim of these kind of leakages. Food grain bags in most cases do not withstand the kilometers long transportation and loading and unloading activity. By improving the quality of food bags leakages can be minimized. Sample godowns have facility to keep buffer reserves of food stocks. During flood season additional stock of rice from central pool is accommodated by hiring spaces from government agencies and private parties.

• Automation The sample godowns have electronic weight bridge. Storage godowns are provisioned with computer along with network connectivity. At this level, food grains receipt and issuance is entered into the system and thus, stock position of PDS commodities for a godown is created and it can be easily monitored at state level. Supply chain automation is properly functioning in the sampled godown, stock position (opening balance, receipt, dispatch and closing balance) can be easily tracked down through supply chain management information system and it is available in public domain. Godown operations are computerized to include receiving commodity from FCI, generation of delivering order, generation of truck challan, gate pass and recording the acknowledgement receipt received from FPS dealer (through transport contractors). SMS notification on the door step delivery is properly received to the registered mobile number of concerned FPS owners through NIC’s application module.

• Issues related to leakages and irregularities in weighment Taluk wise Godown faces an issue related to irregularities in weighment of bags. The normal weight of a single grain bag is 50 kg. In some cases, it may be underweighted (35kg) or over weighed (65kg). However, the overall weight of each load is accurate as per the truck chit from the FCI godown. The difference in weight of each bag becomes a problem for the Godown officials. So, the Supplyco godown workers under the guidance of outlet manager are entrusted with an additional duty of rebagging the underweighted bags from FCI godown. This process is time consuming. FPS owners also reported underweight of the unloaded food grains from the Supplyco godown. There is a leakage of minimum 1 to 2kgs of food gains from each bag as reported by fps owners. Most of the unloaded bags are tampered and there is lot of wastage in food gains in the delivery channel.

Chapter 5 Access to Food Grain Entitlement and FPS Automation

Food security is said to exist when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The four pillars of food security are availability, access, utilisation and stability. This chapter deals with the accessibility of entitled food grains and the progress of automation process during the implementation of NFSA. 5.1 Percentage off take by households in the sample FPS Section Section 5.1 analyses the access to food grain entitlement and status of FPS automation in the two districts of Kerala namely Malappuram and Thrissur.

5.1.1 Price of food grains The Price of food grains off take by households is analyzed in the following section,

Table No. 5.1 Price of rice from PDS Malappuram Thrissur Type of ration No: of household Mean SD No: of household Mean SD card PHH 50 2 .000 50 2 .00 AAY 25 .00 .000 25 .00 .000 Total 75 1.33 .94 75 1.33 .94 (Source: Primary Survey)

The table depicts price of rice from PDS for PHH and AAY. For beneficiaries in PHH category average price incurred is Rs. 2 in both Malappuram and Thrissur. For AAY category, rice is given free of cost. From the table it is clear that beneficiaries are not over charged.

Table No. 5.2 Price of wheat from PDS Malappuram Thrissur Type of No :of Mean SD No :of Mean SD ration card household household PHH 50 2 .000 50 2 .00 AAY 25 .00 .000 25 .00 .000 Total 75 1.33 .94 75 1.33 .94 (Source: Primary Survey)

The table depicts price of wheat for PHH and AAY beneficiaries. For wheat, average price incurred is Rs. 2 for beneficiaries in PHH category. Wheat is given free of cost for AAY households. For wheat also, beneficiaries are not experiencing price over charge.

Table No. 5.3 Price of sugar from PDS

Malappuram Thrissur Type of Price of sugar from PDS Price of sugar from PDS ration card No :of Mean SD No :of Mean SD household household PHH 0 0 0 0 0 0 AAY 25 0 0 25 0 0 Total 25 0 0 25 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey) As is evident from the table Sugar is distributed to AAY beneficiaries only.

5.1.2 Quantity of food grains Quantity of food grains entitled to both PHH and AAY category is analysed in the following tables.

Table No.5.4 Quantity of rice entitled for sample households from PDS

Malappuram Thrissur

Type of Quantity of rice from PDS Quantity of rice from PDS ration card No: of Mean SD No: of Mean SD household household 50 16.38 6.00 50 17.2 7.50 PHH 25 30 0 25 30 0 AAY 75 20.92 8.10 75 21.46 8.61 Total

(Source: Primary Survey)

The table shows average quantity of rice entitled for both PHH and AAY category households. Quantity of rice for PHH household is dependent on the number of family members in the household. On an average the fifty sample households are entitled 16.38 kg and 17.2 kg of rice per month (based on the number of family members). AAY households are entitled to get 30 kg of rice.

Table No.5.5 Quantity of wheat entitled for sample households from PDS

Malappuram Thrissur

Type of Quantity of wheat from PDS Quantity of wheat from PDS ration card No :of Mean SD No :of Mean SD household household PHH 50 4.0 1.49 50 4.34 1.84 AAY 25 5 0 25 5 0 Total 75 4.39 1.29 75 4.56 1.53 (Source: Primary Survey) The table shows that average quantity of wheat entitled for the fifty households under PHH and AAY category. On an average the fifty sampled PHH households are entitled 4.00 kg of wheat. Twenty five AAY households are entitled 5 kg of wheat.

Table No.5.6 Quantity of sugar entitled for sample households from PDS Malappuram Thrissur Type of Quantity of sugar from PDS Quantity of sugar from PDS ration card No :of Mean SD No :of Mean SD household household PHH 50 0 0 50 0 0 AAY 25 1 0 25 1 0 Total 75 .33 .475 75 .33 .475 (Source: Primary Survey) From the table (5.6), it is evident that sugar is not entitled for PHH category. For AAY households the average quantity entitled is 1kg. 5.1.3 Average cost incurred by beneficiary to avail FPS services Average cost incurred by beneficiaries to avail the services is measured. Table No. 5.7 Average cost incurred by beneficiary to avail FPS services Malappuram Thrissur Total Average SD Total Average SD Average cost incurred by 1400 18.66 35 1450 19.33 40. beneficiary to avail FPS services

(Source: Primary Survey) The table shows average cost incurred by beneficiaries to avail FPS services. For Malappuram district, the average cost is Rs. 18.66 and for Thrissur the cost is Rs. 19.33.

5.2 Food grain quantity purchase and price vis-à-vis entitlements Food grain quantity purchase and price vis-à-vis entitlements is analyzed in the section to check whether there are issues such as underweight, over charging, unlifted quantity as reported by sample households.

5.2.1 Entitled quota of food grains Households were asked the question whether they get full quota of food grains in the past six months

Table No. 5.8 Quota of food grains received by households Response Malappuram Thrissur Number of household Percentage Number of household Percentage Yes 73 97.33 70 93.3 No 2 2.66 5 6.7 Total 75 100 75 100 (Source: Primary Survey)

Table (5.8) shows that, both in Malappuram and Thrissur districts, more than ninety percentage of the households reported as they are getting full quota of food grains. Around three percentage has reported as not getting full quota from Malappuram district, while in Thrissur it is reported as seven percentage. Category wise response to receiving full quota of food grains in the past six months is given in the following table. This can give insights into the pattern of under weighment among PHH and AAY members. Table No. 5.9 Category wise response: quota of food grains received by households Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Yes Percentage No Percenta Ye Percenta Percenta ge s ge No ge PHH 48 96 2 4 45 90 5 10 AAY 25 100 0 0 25 100 0 0

Total 73 2 70 5 (Source: Primary Survey)

The table shows that in both districts, compared to PHH households, AAY households are getting the full quota of food grains. Four percentage of households in Malappuram district and ten percentage beneficiaries in Thrissur district reported issue of under weighment of food grains in PHH category.

5.2.2 Reasons for not getting full quota of food grains Major reasons for not getting full quota of food grains are analyzed in the following tables, though the number of beneficiaries who reported as not getting full quota is very less

Table No. 5.10 Reasons for not getting full quota of food grains as reported by beneficiary house holds Reasons Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household)

PHH AAY PHH AAY Yes Percent Yes Percent Yes Percenta Yes Percen age age ge tage Grain supplies did 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 not reach the ration shop Refusal by the FPS 2 100 0 0 5 100 0 0 dealer

Lack of information 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 about opening times of the ration shop

Lack of cash at the 1 50 0 0 2 100 0 0 time when grain was available at the ration shop Grain supplied at the 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ration shop is of inferior quantity Family migrated to 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 other area Grain supplies “ran 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 out” (Source: Primary Survey) The above table gives valuable insights in to the reasons for not getting full quota of food grains. Major reasons cited by beneficiaries include refusal from the part of FPS owner to give full quota, lack of cash at the time when grain was available at the ration shop. However the refusal by the FPS dealer is the most common reason said by the beneficiaries and this is highly reported in both districts(100 percentage in Malappuram and Thrissur). Lack of cash at the time when grain was supplied was also reported as a reason, the percentage share of this cause is 50 and 40 percentage in Malappuram and Thrissur districts. All other reasons such as lack of information regarding timings of FPS, unavailability of stock etc. seems to be irrelevant with respect to the beneficiary group.

5.2.3 Under-weighment of commodities It is important to know whether there is the issue of under-weighment of commodities with regard to food grains.

Table No. 5.11 Experience the problem of under-weighment of commodities

Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of Thrissur (No: of household) household) Problem of under-weighment of Problem of under-weighment of commodities commodities Yes Percentag No Percentag Yes Percentag No Percentag e e e e PHH 2 4 48 96 3 6 47 94 AAY 2 8 23 92 1 4 24 96 (Source: Primary Survey)

From the table (5.11) it is evident that in Malappuram district, four percentage of beneficiaries household from PHH and eight percentage AAY have experienced the issue of under- weighment of commodities in the last one year. In the district of Thrissur also, six percentage of beneficiary house hold from PHH category and four percentage from AAY category faced under- weighment of commodities.

5.2.4 Measures to tackle mismatch in quantity of food grains Measures adopted by households to tackle the issue of mismatch in quantity received from FPS are analyzed in the following tables.

Table No. 5.12 Percentage of beneficiaries launched complaint

Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of Thrissur (No: of household) household) Mismatch in quantity of food Mismatch in quantity of food grains grains Yes Percent No Percent Yes Percent No Percent age age age age PHH 0 0 50 100 0 0 50 100

AAY 0 0 25 100 0 0 25 100 (Source: Primary Survey) Behavior of beneficiaries with regard to under- weighment of commodities is analysed in the above table. No one has raised a concern about mismatch in the quantity of food grains in both districts.

5.2.5 Price overcharge and PDS food grains Following table shows (5.14) that unlike the mismatch in quantity, incidents of price over charge is not reported from the two districts.

Table No. 5.13 Percentage of respondent overcharged for food grains Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of Thrissur (No: of household) household) Respondent overcharged Respondent overcharged Yes Percen No Percen Yes Percen No Percen tage tage tage tage PHH 0 0 50 100 0 0 50 100 AAY 0 0 25 100 0 0 25 100

(Source: Primary Survey)

The analysis shows that beneficiary households were not getting the full quota of food grains allotted for them, and there is quantity mismatch in the food grains received by beneficiaries. However, beneficiaries are not over charged for the food grains. 5.3 Perception of beneficiaries about quality of food grains This section analyses perception of beneficiaries about the quality of food grains received from both Malappuram and Thrissur. Whether the food grains received are of the same quality of sample displayed at the ration shop is checked in the section.

Table No. 5.14 Sample of food grains displayed at the ration shop Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of Thrissur (No: of household) household) Yes Percen No Percen Yes Percen No Percen tage tage tage tage PHH 45 90 5 10 40 80 10 20 AAY 20 80 5 20 20 80 5 20 (Source: Primary Survey)

The above table shows that in almost every ration shop chosen for study, sample food grains are displayed at the ration shop however in Thrissur twenty percentage of sample responded that sample food grains are not displayed at the ration shop.

Table No. 5.15 Respondents receiving same quality of food grains as the sample displayed at the ration shop

Type of ration card Malappuram Thrissur (No: of household) (No: of household) Yes Percen No Percen Yes Percen No Percen tage tage tage tage PHH 40 80 0 0 45 90 10 20 AAY 25 100 0 0 20 80 5 20 (Source: Primary Survey)

Opinion regarding the quality of food grains is different in the two districts. Eighty percentage of beneficiaries from PHH and 100 percentage beneficiaries from AAY in Malappuram feel that they are getting the same quality of food grains displayed at the ration shop. In Thrissur district 90 percentage of PHH category and 80 percentage of AAY category reported a difference in quality displayed. Thus, region specific and category specific difference is seen with regard to quality of food grains.

Table No. 5.16 Foreign particles in the food grains received Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of Thrissur (No: of household) household)

Found a lot of foreign particles in the Found a lot of foreign particles in the food grains food grains Yes Perce No Perce Yes Percent No Percen ntage ntage age tage PHH 3 6 44 92 5 10 45 90 AAY 2 8 23 92 3 12 22 88

(Source: Primary Survey)

Regarding the quality of food grains, some of the beneficiaries feel that there are foreign particles in food grains which make it difficult to use. In Malappuram eight percentage of beneficiaries in Malappuram belonging to AAY category and six percentage of beneficiaries in PHH category opined that there are a lot of foreign particles in food grains received from ration shops. However, around ten percentage of beneficiaries belonging to both PHH and twelve percentage belonging to AAY in Thrissur complained about presence of foreign particles which make consuming these food gains difficult.

Table No. 5.17 Complaints launched about inferior quality of food grains Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of Thrissur (No: of household) household) Raised a concern to the Raised a concern to the authority about the quality of authority about the quality of the food grains at your ration the food grains at your ration shop shop Yes Perce No Percen Yes Perce No Percen ntage tage ntage tage PHH 0 0 50 100 0 0 50 100 AAY 0 0 25 100 0 0 25 100 (Source: Primary Survey) With regard to the behavior of beneficiaries about raising complaints, no one from both categories and both districts raised concern to authority. 5.4 Timely availability of food grains Timely availability of food grains is determined by distance to fair price shop, information regarding availability of food stock, opening and closing timings of FPS and the number of days FPS open in a month. 5.4.1 Distance to Fair Price Shop

Table No. 5.18 Distance to Fair Price shop Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Distan PHH AAY PHH AAY ce No: of Percent No:of Percent No:of percent No:of Percent househ age househ age househ age househ age old old old old 0-1 38 76 20 80 37 74 23 92 km 0-2km 10 20 4 16 13 26 2 8 0-3km 2 4 1 4 0 0 0 0 Total 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 (Source: Primary Survey)

Most of the ration shops were situated within one kilometer from the house in both Malappuram and Thrissur, houses are situated at longer distance also, and however this is not more than two kilometers. This helps beneficiaries to purchase food grains with easiness.

5.4.2 Information regarding availability of food grains Sources from which information about distribution of food grains at ration shop is known by beneficiaries is analysed in the following table.

Table No. 5.19 Information regarding availability of food grains

Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Type of information PHH AAY PHH AAY Yes % Yes % Yes % Yes % Personally 20 40 13 52 28 56 10 40 visiting FPS Through FPS 50 100 22 88 16 32 7 28 dealer Friends and 39 78 21 84 50 100 25 100 neighbours SMS 50 100 25 100 44 88 22 88 (Source: Primary Survey)

Information regarding distribution of food grains is known mainly through the FPS dealer, personally visiting the ration shop, through friends and neighbors and SMS alert from state government, these four sources of information is used among the different categories in different districts. In Malappuram, eighty-eight percentage of beneficiaries from AAY category and hundred percentage of beneficiaries from PHH category get information from the FPS dealer, while around fifty percentage beneficiaries from both categories, personally visit ration shop to know whether stock has been reached. Some of the beneficiaries know information from friends and neighbours. During the survey, it was understood that many of the FPS dealers personally call the card holders to avoid rush during the end of the month. In AAY category, majority beneficiaries get information either through SMS alert or through friends and neighbors. After introducing the e-Pos machine, SMS alerts are an important means to get information. Cent percentage in Malappuram are getting SMS alert and more than eighty percentage in Thrissur district are getting SMS alert.

5.4.3 Functioning of FPS:

Table No. 5.20 Satisfied on the number of working days of the ration shop Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) No : of PHH AAY PHH AAY days are No:of percent No:of Percent No:of percent No:of Percent satisfact househ age househ age househ age househ age ory old old old old Yes 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 No 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey) With regard to the number of working days of ration shop, no-one has reported as dissatisfactory. Ration shops are open for 20-25 days in both districts as per the beneficiaries in both districts.

Table No. 5.21 Number of hours ration shops open for distribution of food grains Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) No : PHH AAY PHH AAY of No: of Percent No: of Percent No: of Percent No: of Percent hou househ age househ age househ age househ age rs old old old old Half 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 day Full 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 day (Source: Primary Survey) In both districts cent percentage of the beneficiaries, responded as ration shops being open for full day. The usual working time is also same in two districts. It is from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. This kind of scheduling is found to be useful to the beneficiaries who are daily wage earners and casual labors.

Table No. 5.22 Satisfaction level of beneficiaries with the timing of distribution of food grains Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Level of PHH AAY PHH AAY satisfact ion No: of percent No: of Percent No: of percent No: of Percent househ age househ age househ age househ age old old old old Dissatisf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ied Neutral 4 8 0 0 5 10 0 0 Satisfied 46 92 25 100 45 90 25 100 (Source: Primary Survey) Satisfaction levels of beneficiaries were measured. In Malappuram district, ninety two percentage of people were satisfied with the services of ration shop, and eight percentage were having neutral opinion. In Thrissur, also majority beneficiaries from both categories were satisfied with regard to functioning of FPS.

5.4.4 Special dispensation for old, infirm, physically challenged

Availability of the facilities for old (members of the family are above 65 years or disabled) and utilisation of these facilities are analysed in the following tables. Table No.5.24 shows special dispensation for old, infirm and physically challenged.

Table No.23 Special dispensation for old, infirm, physically challenged Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Difficult PHH AAY PHH AAY y No:of Percent No:of percent No:of percent No:of Percent househ age househ age househ age househ age old old old old Manage 28 56 23 92 26 52 22 88 able Not at all 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 difficult Difficult 20 40 2 8 24 48 3 12 (Source: Primary Survey)

Beneficiaries who are above 65/or disabled are not using any of the three facilities destined for them. Most of them are not aware about the facilities.

Table No. 5.24 Level of difficulty experienced by beneficiaries (old and disabled) Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Difficult PHH AAY PHH AAY y No:of Percent No:of Percent No: of Percent No: of Percent househ age househ age househ age househ age old old old old Manage 20 40 23 92 30 60 25 100 able Not at all 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 difficult

Difficult 30 60 2 8 23 46 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey)

The table clearly shows that they experience some difficulty in carrying the food grains, since no other person are entitled to buy his/her ration on their behalf. Forty percentage in Malappuram and sixty percentage in Thrissur are of the opinion that the inconvenience is manageable.

Table No. 5.25 Number of households recalling the toll free helpline number Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household)

recall the toll free helpline for recall the toll free helpline for TPDS TPDS Yes Percen No Percen Yes Percen No Percen tage tage tage tage PHH 16 32 34 68 15 30 35 70 AAY 9 36 16 64 8 32 17 68 (Source: Primary Survey)

With regard to the toll-free number displayed at the ration shop majority of the beneficiaries are not able to recall the number. This shows that beneficiaries are not using the number in need and is not taking it seriously.

5.5 Consumption of food grain by households and share of PDS food grains Tables (5.27) show rice consumption pattern of households. Cent percentage of sample households are rice consumers, both in Malappuram and in Thrissur. Major sources of rice consumption are market and PDS. Seventy seven per cent of households in Malappuram and eighty per cent of households in Thrissur depend on market also for rice. Every household in the sample population are buying rice from PDS, showing the importance of PDS in distribution of rice. Similarly, all households in both districts are consuming wheat and majority of the households are buying wheat from PDS and dependency on market is less compared to rice.

5.5.1 Consumption pattern of rice and wheat

The table shows that hundred percentage of sample households are consuming rice, which shows the relevance of this food grains in daily staple. All of the beneficiaries are consuming from FPSs however they depend on market also. Fifty eight households from Malappuram district and sixty households from Thrissur district are depending on market also. This is mainly due to inadequacy of quantity supplied through Public distribution system.

Table No. 5.26 Rice consumption pattern of selected households District Rice Consumption Rice consumption from market Rice consumption from PDS

Yes No Percent Yes Percent No Percenta Yes Percent age age ge age Malapp 75 0 100 58 77.33 17 22.66 75 100 uram Thrissur 75 0 100 60 80 15 20 75 100

(Source: Primary Survey)

Table No. 5.27 Wheat consumption pattern of selected households Wheat Consumption Wheat consumption from Wheat District market consumption from PDS Yes No Percent Yes Percent No Percenta Yes Percent age age ge age

75 0 100 50 66.67 25 33.33 75 100 Malapp uram 75 0 100 33 44 42 56 75 100 Thrissur (Source: Primary Survey) Every household from both districts are consuming wheat, major share of the wheat consumption is provided by the FPS itself, however 66 percentage and 44 percentage of the sample households form Malappuram district and Thrissur district respectively consume wheat from market also. In AAY category irrespective of the number of members in the family all are getting five kilo wheat, sometimes distribution of this uniform quantity is less effective. There are AAY households having more than eight members and they are also getting only five kilograms of wheat for a month. In such cases the households are depending on market for the additional consumption.

5.5.2 Quantity of Rice consumed by the household

Table No. 5.28 Average quantity of rice consumed by households Quantity of Malappuram Thrissur rice Total Mean Percentage Total Mean Percentage Consumed 900 12 32.14 960 12.8 33.10 from market

Consumed 1900 25.33 67.86 1940 25.86 66.89 from PDS Total 2800 37.33 100 2900 38.66 100

(Source: Primary Survey)

Of the total quantity of 2800 kg rice consumed in Malappuram by the sample population, 900 kg (32.14%) is purchased from market and the rest amount of 1900 kg (67.86%) is from PDS. Likewise, in Thrissur, 1940 kg (66.89%) rice is purchased from PDS and 960 kg (33.10%) is from market. On an average, a household in Malappuram purchases 25.33 kg of rice from PDS whereas the corresponding figure for Thrissur is 25.96 kg. The percentage share of rice consumption shows the dependency of households on PDS system.

5.5.3 Quantity of wheat consumed by the household

Table No. 5.29 Average quantity of wheat consumed by households Quantity of Malappuram Thrissur Wheat Total Mean Percentage Total Mean Percentage

Consumed 120 1.6 26.08 300 4.00 48.38 from market Consumed 340 4.5 73.91 320 4.26 51.62 from PDS

Total 460 6.13 100 620 8.6 100 (Source: Primary Survey)

With regard to wheat consumption in Malappuram, major share of wheat which forms 340 kg (73.91%) is bought from PDS. In Thrissur, 51.62 % is consumed from PDS. Monthly, about 320 kg wheat is purchased from PDS. The average quantity of wheat purchased from PDS is 4.5 kg in Malappuram and 4.26 kg in Thrissur.

5.6 Nature of subsidy and functioning of FPS Questions were asked to beneficiaries with regard to the mode of subsidy payment. These questions were asked to identify whether beneficiaries prefer to change the mode of subsidy in food grains.

Table No. 5.30 Preference towards cash subsidy instead of food grains Response Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) PHH AAY PHH AAY house Percen house Percen house Percen Househ percent hold tage hold tage hold tage old age Yes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 No 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 Can’t say 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey) To the question whether cash subsidy is preferred over food grains, most of beneficiaries in Malappuram and Thrissur opined that they want to continue with subsidized food grains over cash subsidy showing a clear preference to continue with the current system.

5.6.1 Cash subsidy vs. food subsidy: Reasons

Table 5.31 Reasons for preferring food subsidy over cash subsidy Response Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) PHH AAY PHH AAY Hous Percen house Percen house Percen Househ percent ehold tage hold tage hold tage old age 1. Bank Account Yes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 No 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 No response 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2. Operational Bank Account Yes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 No 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 No response 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3. Accustomed to use of Bank Account Yes 4 8 4 16 5 10 3 12 No 46 92 25 100 45 90 22 88 No response 8 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 4. Food rains from market would be of higher price Yes 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 No response 4 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 5. Risk of misuse of cash to non-food item Yes 48 96 25 100 50 100 25 100 No 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 No response 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey) The tables show that majority of the persons are having an operational bank account, and are accustomed with using it, but still they do not prefer cash subsidy over food grains. This preference is because of the view that food grains from market would be of higher price, and so cash subsidy may not be able to ensure food security. Cash subsidy may be used for purchasing other non- food materials.

5.7 Enhancing activities of FPS

Table No. 5.32 Additional facilities utilised in FPS Facility Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) PHH AAY PHH AAY Yes percentage Yes percentage Yes percentage Yes Percentage Digital 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 payment Banking 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 correspondent CSC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 operations Sale of non- 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PDS commodities Others 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 (Source: Primary Survey) The above table shows that FPS in both Malappuram and Thrissur are not doing any other activity other than distribution of food grains from government.

Table No. 5.33 Additional facilities preferred by households in FPS facility Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) PHH AAY PHH AAY Yes Percentage Yes percentage Yes percentage Yes Percentage Digital 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 payment Banking 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 correspondent Sale of non- 42 84 22 88 41 82 23 92 PDS commodities (Source: Primary Survey) The above table shows that beneficiaries are much enthusiastic about enhancing the role of FPS by including digital payment or banking correspondent. All of them reported interest in enhancing FPS with Banking services and digital payment. More than eighty per cent showed interest in sale of non-PDS commodities through FPS.

Table No. 5.34 Opinion about role of PDS

Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Role PHH AAY PHH AAY No: of percenta No: of percenta No: of Percenta No: of Percenta househo ge househo ge househo ge househo ge ld ld ld ld Very 50 100 25 100 50 100 25 100 importa nt Quite 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 importa nt No 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 importa nt (Source: Primary Survey)

From the table it is evident that majority of the households feel that PDS system is quite important in ensuring food security for their family.

5.8 Coverage under portability Portability is one of new initiative through Aadhaar enabled Public Distribution System (AePDS). This functionality enables beneficiaries to claim their entitlements at any Fair Price Shop (FPS) within their state instead of being restricted to their registered shop. The portability system enables beneficiaries to choose an FPS based on their convenience and it allows migrant workers to access their PDS entitlements at their place of work. However, utilization of this functionality depends on several factors such as awareness about portability, cooperation of FPS owners and availability of alternate FPS in the vicinity.

Table No. 5.35 District wise comparison of portability in September 2019 Availed Po Availed Portabilit Total Availed Availed Po rt District Transacti y Cards Cards rt Cards Transactio on % ns Malappuram 926888 893075 1044291 119322 133537 13.36

Thrissur 826699 739524 817118 128687 42009 17.40

Kerala 8614380 7686605 8410299 1433245 1530371 18.64 (Source: https://civilsupplieskerala.gov.in/)

Total portability in Kerala is 18.64 % in September,2019. In Malappuram, 13.36% of the card holders use the benefit of portability and in Thrissur the percentage is 17.40.

5.8.1 Portability among the beneficiaries of sample FPS

Shop Urban Rural

%

rds

Port Port

Port Port

Trans

Ca Cards

Availed

%

Trans

Cards Cards

Portability

Availed

Total Cards

Portability

Availed Availed

Availed Availed

Availed Trans

Urban portability % Total Cards Availed Trans Rural portability %

Shop1 892 889 1033 117 131 13.16 20.44 Shop2 791 642 665 178 186 27.72 Shop3 832 759 1057 84 111 11.06 Shop4 950 836 1024 82 96 9.8 14.29 Shop5 1209 1262 1360 278 291 22.02 Shop 1 606 587 613 126 134 21.46 14.32 Shop2 1298 1014 1315 73 86 7.19 Shop3 456 407 413 24 25 5.89 Shop4 433 290 295 40 40 13.79 18.17 Shop5 624 623 683 217 230 34.83

3587 3132 3626 494 537 69.53 34.76 4504 4177 4832 725 793 97.39 32.46

(Source: https://civilsupplieskerala.gov.in/)

From the sample it is clear that urban areas (34.76 %) have higher portability compared with rural areas (32.46%). Area wise comparison of portability separately in each district shows that urban portability in Malappuram is 20.44% compared with the rural portability of 14.29 % and in Thrissur, the portability rate is higher in rural than urban areas.

Table No. 5.37 Trend of portability District Portability- Portability- Portability- July (%) August (%) September (%) Malappuram 12.34 12.98 13.36 Thrissur 16.52 17.22 17.40 Average 14.43 15.10 15.38 (Source: https://epos.kerala.gov.in/) Figure (2) Trend of portability

60

50 Average

40 Thrisur 30 Malappuram 20

10

0 Portability July Portability August Portability September

5.8.2 Portability among sample Households

Sample households from both Malappuram and Thrissur districts were identified with respect to the FPS selected from each area. However, it is important to understand the extent of portability among selected sample households from these districts. Following table shows the percentage of portability among sample population. Beneficiaries from both districts have awareness about facility to avail food grains from other fair price shops.

Table No. 5.38 Percentage of sample households avail the benefits of portability Type of ration card Malappuram(No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household)

Avail the benefits of portability Avail the benefits of portability Yes Percent No Percent Yes Percent No percent age age age age PHH 12 24 38 86 13 26 37 74

AAY 4 16 21 84 6 24 19 76

(Source: Primary Survey) Twenty four percentage of beneficiaries in PHH category and sixteen percentage from AAY category are availing benefits of portability in Malappuram district. In Thrissur, twenty six percentage from PHH category and twenty four percentage from AAY category are availing the service of portability. Factors contributing to portability is analysed in the following tables.

Table No. 5.39 Go to nearest / Convenient FPS Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Go to nearest FPS Go to nearest FPS Yes Percenta No Percenta Yes Percenta No percenta ge ge ge ge PHH 9 75 3 25 10 77 3 23 AAY 3 75 1 25 5 83.33 1 16.66 (Source: Primary Survey)

Seventy-five percentage from both category are using portability to visit nearest/convenient FPS in Malappuram. Similarly, all the beneficiaries of portability cite convenience to reach to FPS as an important factor determining portability in Thrissur.

Table No. 5.40 Get right quality / Price Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) Get right quality / Price Get right quality / Price Yes Percenta No Percenta Yes Percenta No percenta ge ge ge ge PHH 7 58.33 5 41.66 10 76.92 3 23.07 AAY 2 50 2 50 5 83.33 1 17.66 (Source: Primary Survey) To get right quality product also portability service is used by the sample households. Fifty-eight percentage from PHH category and fifty percentage from AAY category in Malappuram district have reported this as the reason for using the portability service. In Thrissur district it is Seventy- six percentage and eighty-three percentage respectively. Thus, the reason of ‘getting right quality product’ is more relevant in the district of Thrissur rather than in Malappuram.

Table No. 5.41 PDS dealer behavior Type of ration card Malappuram (No: of household) Thrissur (No: of household) PDS dealer behaviour PDS dealer behaviour Yes Percenta No Percenta Yes Percenta No percenta ge ge ge ge PHH 10 83.33 2 17.66 12 92.30 2 16.67 AAY 3 75 1 25 5 83.33 1 17.66 (Source: Primary Survey)

Regarding the behavior of FPS dealer being a factor prompting portability, in both district more than seventy five percentage from both category consider this as an important determining factor, while in Thrissur it is ninety two percentage and eighty three percentage. Thus the behavior of FPS dealer is a very important factor that makes people go for availing the provision of portability.

Chapter 6 Summary of Key Findings and Recommendations from Concurrent Evaluation

Government of India enacted National Food Security Act (NFSA) in July, 2013 which gives legal entitlement to 67% of the population (75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas) to receive highly subsidized foodgrains. Under the Act, foodgrain is allocated @ 5 kg per person per month for priority households category and @ 35 kg per family per month for AAY families at a highly subsidized prices of Rs. 1/-, Rs. 2/- and Rs. 3/- per kg for nutri-cereals, wheat and rice respectively. Coverage under the Act is based on the population figures of Census, 2011. The Act is now being implemented in all 36 States/UTs and covers about 81.35 crore persons. The annual allocation of foodgrain under National Food Security Act and Other Welfare Schemes is about 610 Lakh Metric Tons.

Kerala implemented the act with effect from November 1, 2016 by initiating end to end computerization of the entire chain of the Public Distribution with the objective of reducing leakages, better targeting and reducing the economic cost of distribution. The new initiative has benefitted a total number of 8092721 card holders; particularly, 588726 AAY cards and 2926704 priority cards that constitute around sixty percentage of total card holders enjoy the benefits.

6.1 Key Findings of the Study

6.1.1 Beneficiary Selection and Ration Card Management

The beneficiary selection and ration card management are more or less similar to the previous districts. Exclusion criterions are strictly followed. However, during the field visits there are cases of left out eligible households and ineligible beneficiaries. Application for new ration cards and issuing of the same is sometimes taking one to two months delay. The awareness regarding the process of modification and applying for new cards is very less among the beneficiaries. Even though government has introduced many facilities including online facility, CSC, block level centers etc. to submit applications for modification of ration cards, most of the beneficiaries are following the traditional techniques such as applying through the concerned ration shop owner or submitting applications at Civil Supplies office directly. This results in delay in completion of due procedures and many sample households raised apprehensions regarding this inefficiency. Most of the households have seeded their mobile number and Aadhar card with ration card, but still issues arise in relation to smooth working of these systems. However, all households welcome the new initiatives from the part of Civil Supplies Department.

6.1.2 Fair Price Shop Management

Of the five sample FPSs selected from each district there is pucca road accessibility and door step delivery mechanism is successfully running. However, the dealers have reported as, proper weighing along with delivery is not regular, which sometimes leads to quantity mismatches. Loading issues are also frequent in some area. All fair price shops are well managed and uniformity is assured along the state. Infrastructure facilities of FPSs are however so as to incorporate other facilities. Most of the dealers are interested in including other facilities like banking correspondence or selling other needed items, as it can add to their income. The salary of sales person composites the higher share of their expenditure, which ranges from Rs. 6000 to Rs. 9000 on an average. Area wise comparison of off takes shows that FPS in rural area of both districts performed better than urban areas. However, area wise comparison of profit/loss of urban and rural area shows that, the sample FPS in the rural area of Malappuram and urban area of Thrissur performed well. 6.1.3 Issues with use of e-PoS With regard to the biometric authentication facility installed at various FPS, successful distribution of food grains and kerosene through biometric authentication is happening with an average biometric authentication rate of 99.67percent, with Malappuram reporting 99.82 % and Thrissur 99.30%. Major reasons for not having cent percentage biometric authentication, as reported by FPS are, finger print authentication failure and connectivity issues. Sample survey of households also reveals that both in Malappuram and in Thrissur, all sample households received their ration through epos machine. However, with regard to getting printed receipt, there is regional and category wise variation in the percentage of households who are getting a printed receipt after the transaction. Compared to Malappuram, beneficiaries in Thrissur district are getting printed receipts, and some households opined that FPS dealers are not giving receipts even after beneficiaries demand for it and thus throws lights in to the possibility of malpractices in distribution of entitled quantity. 6.1.4 Supply chain management and Door step delivery Taluk wise godown faces an issue related to irregularities in weighment of bags. FPS owners also reported underweight of the unloaded food grains from the Supplyco godown. The infrastructure facilities of godowns are not adequate in both districts; there is no good working condition for labours in the godowns. There is a leakage of minimum 1 to 2kgs of food grains from each bag as reported. There are issues relating to fixation of transporting contractors in the godowns and of improper and ineffective route selection by transportation agents and the quality of the bags in which the food grains are packed. There are instances where the distributers hesitate to weigh in the presence of FPS dealers during the delivery. 6.1.5. Access to food grain entitlements and FPS automation

Household sample survey reveals the dependency of majority of households for rice, wheat and sugar in PDS system. One major issue related to food grain entitlement is that beneficiaries are not getting full quota of food grains. Around seven percentage of households in Thrissur district and thirty-two percentage beneficiaries in Malappuram district belonging to AAY category reported issue of under weighment of food grains. In PHH category, the respective numbers are thirty-eight percentage and thirty percentage respectively. Two major reasons cited by beneficiaries in relation to this include refusal from the part of FPS owner to give full quota and lack of cash at the time of purchase. The analysis shows that beneficiary households were not getting the full quota of food grains allotted for them, and there are quantity mismatch in the food grains received by beneficiaries. However, beneficiaries are not over charged for the food grains. In addition, there are apprehensions relating to quality of food grains. Beneficiaries opine that sometimes low quality rice and wheat are received from PDS and foreign particles are seen in the food grains. In addition, region specific and category specific difference is seen with regard to quality of food grains. Even after introducing seeding of mobile and Aadhar, information regarding arrival of monthly stock of food grains is known from the communication with the FPS dealer. Beneficiaries who are above 65/or disabled are not using any of the facilities ordained for them. Opinion survey on mode of payment of subsidy reveals that majority households prefer food grain subsidy over cash subsidy since they fear that with the cash subsidy, they may not be able to purchase this much amount of food grains and there can be misuse of cash subsidy. Even though FPS dealers are not playing any additional roles currently, beneficiaries are of the opinion that it will be good to introduce CSC operations and sale of non-PDS items in ration shop. Households are making use of portability facilities introduced. In short, even though there are complaints relating to quantity and quality of food grains received from ration shops, majority of house hold feel that PDS system is quintessentially important in ensuring food security in households and welcomes the new facilities including e-Pos machine, biometric authentication and portability introduced under NFSA act. Recommendations

Beneficiary selection:

In both districts there are issues related to beneficiary selection. A proper resurvey is strongly recommended. Though the state has already taken different steps to ensure proper beneficiary selection, field surveys reveals the need for immediate attention. In Malappuram district especially, many of the beneficiaries have complained that, the BPL survey was not conducted properly. From the field survey, the team could identify more than ten households from one area itself who are excluded from the list of beneficiaries without considering the exclusion criterion. Many deserving families had been left out from the BPL list. In some cases households having inclusion criteria for AAY card got PHH cards. Since the ration card has become an important document for identification of BPL families, due care should be taken by the Panchayat authority not to exclude the beneficiaries. Immediate action should be taken in the complaints filed by beneficiaries in this regard.

Addressing the local difference in demand for rice

There is locality wise difference in demand for different types of rice. In Malappuram district respondents have reported that they need more white rice instead of CMR rice but in Thrissur district CMR rice is more demanded, addressing this kind of locality wise demand difference can assure the maximum utilization of PDS facilities.

Adding other food items to supply through PDS

Adding other necessary food items like, cereals and pulses along with current items can assure the necessary nutrient supply for promising food security. Most of the households are depending on SupplyCo for subsidized cereals and pulses. However, the quantity of supply through this mechanism is very less that is 500 grams per each item irrespective of number of members in the family.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism :

There is no separate system for implementation of enforcement and vigilance in the PDS as currently there is no separate cell for the purpose of monitoring PDS other than ration inspector. Ration beneficiaries and Fair Price Shop Owners are in a dire need of the effective establishment of vigilance committee in the State to deal with the specific problems of PDS. The fair price level vigilance committee at grass root level can carry out thorough inspection of the stock and all other records, and can generate social audit reports and should check whether all transparency norms, quality norms and management requirements are being carried out as per the guidelines prescribed by the government and shall report its findings to Gramasabha and other authorities.

Door Step Delivery:

Most of the FPS dealers reported under weight of the food grains received through door step delivery. However the FPS owners reported a reduction in leakage than before. A uniform supply chain management, which is covered under the vigilance system could reduce the leakage further more. Measures should be taken to correct this.

Full Quota Refusal:

The households in the two districts also reported refusal by the FPS dealer to give full quota of commodities. However, with regard to the underweight of commodities they receive, some households seem to be sympathetic towards the dealer since they feel that the margins received by FPS dealers is too low to make good level of living. Also, they feel that complaining to authorities/ or opting for portability may lead to permanent closure of the ration shop and it may increase their travel expenses to buy their entitled quantity from other ration shops. Most of the beneficiaries even justified underweight of commodities since they feel that some amount of under-weight takes place at the wholesale level itself which compels the dealer to reduce the amount from the ultimate consumers. And maintaining social harmony is more important than getting the exact quantity of food grains, as the FPS dealers are mostly their neighbors. So it is important to introduce a centralized mechanism by which the quantity sold to each house holds can be monitored by the authorities.

Provisions for Old Age and People with Disability:

From the field survey it is evident that none of the provisions for old age population or people with disability is used by the target group. This is mainly due to the unawareness regarding the provisions of NFSA. More awareness through radio programmes or advertisements could hopefully change this situation. A separate list maintained by the FPS dealer on this targeted population could also enable an easy enquiry from the department if needed.

Time Taken for Automatic Authentication:

Cardholders has not reported overcrowding at fair price shop and exorbitant delay in distribution of goods by staff at FPS. During the field work, the research team found some delay in the operation of epos machine. But the delays are individual specific and cannot be treated as a general issue. However, some delays are reported during festive month () due to connectivity issues of epos machine. And there are issues related to authentication failure. This must be corrected in due course of time.

The availability of information:

. The availability of information among the beneficiaries of PDS is extremely important for the smooth functioning of the PDS. All the surveyed FPS in both districts clearly placed a notice board with required information to the beneficiaries regarding functioning of PDS, prices and quantity of commodities entitled, Toll free helpline numbers and quantity of stock. From the sample study it is learned that majority of households are aware about the rate and entitlement of food grains. Even then, certain shops owners deliberately restrict the entitled quantity of rice for the consumers especially for small member families with AAY cards. Steps should be taken to enhance awareness regarding the facility to use the toll free numbers in need.

Control Malpractices

Regarding the underweight of commodities, certain card holders deliberately surrender their food quota (especially certain type of rice not suit their taste) to the FPS owner for free and in certain cases in return of cash. It is common that state priority card holders often surrender their food grain entitlement and let the FPS owner to enter the purchase of entitled quota in the epos machine. On paper, card holders purchased the full quota, and in reality they voluntarily did not lift the grains. There are cases where ration shop dealers refused to give entitled quota to the beneficiaries but on the epos machine they enter the acceptance of the full quota. Most of the beneficiaries are not concerned about what is printed on the receipt and they do not even check the message received in their seeded phone number after the purchase of food grains. So it is important to look into the issue of underweight of commodities. Even after introducing the epos machine malpractices exist. Awareness should be created regarding the importance of getting receipts from dealer and beneficiaries who do not need food grains should be excluded from the system.

Infrastructure in Godowns: The infrastructure facilities of godowns are found to be very poor in both districts. Severe leakage is found from godowns due to unscientific package and poor infrastructure. Without better conditions, pests could easily enter the godowns and this can be very dangerous in future.

Poor infrastructure facility is causing severe health issues to the casual loading and unloading workers in godowns. The ventilations and air holes are not maintained scientifically. Better human resource management should be adopted in this regard

ANNEXURE

Malappuram

District Factsheet B. Number of C. % of population covered under A. Population households NFSA 3,625,471 (census,2011) 928886 46.12457 F. Godowns (storage D. NFSA Coverage details E. Number of Fair price shops points) PoS AAY PHH PHH Total PoS Capacity (Online Manual Numbers cards cards members shops (Offline) (in MTs) ) 376794 1241 1241 0 0 17 650 53102 1883813

H. NFSA food grains allocation and G. Details of posts at district level distribution (last three months) (in MTs)

Vacant Name of the post Sanctioned strength Month Allocation Distribution positions 11192670 10980683.8 Ration inspector 1 0 July

11187730 10960835.5 Junior assistant 4 0 August

Assistant 11224915 11069503.1 1 0 September salesmen

Godown Factsheets A. Location of Godown B. Details of Godowns District Name Malappuram Capacity (in MTs) 650 Block name Ponnani No. of FPS tagged 60 Address Maximum distance 20 km from FPS

C. Details of person power at godowns D. Facilities at godowns Name Facilities Availability Vafeetha Beegum Internet connectivity Yes (manager/outlet in charge-Junior Asst.)

Rajan Electronic weigh Yes (Junior Asst.) machine/ bridge Laborers – 18 nos Computer room for Yes Supply chain management Toilet facility for Yes labour Accessibility by all- Yes weather road Firefighting equipment Yes

FPS level Factsheet (1) 2056005 A. Details and location B. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Urban Name Rajudas Name of Village/ ward Ponnani Age 50

Block/ District Malappuram Gender M FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 2056005 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 51 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 292 July 41873.07 14555.5 29409.9048

PHH (cards) 520 August 41815.68 14673.75 15041.3452

PHH (members) 2896 Septemb 34893 20796 9617 er E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS food grains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment facility No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes Banking correspondent No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY category Yes Sale of Non-PDS items No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ beneficiaries Yes G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or door Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise records Yes No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet (2) 2054215 C. Details and location D. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Urban Name TCRB Name of Village/ ward Thirur Age

Block/ District Malappuram Gender FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 2054215 Ownership Co-operative C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 36 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 271 July 35995 14109.5 9737.5

PHH (cards) 306 August 35764.5 13592.5 11048

PHH (members) 1964 Septem 30320 13808 10926 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 0 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 2 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 3 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet (3) 2056035 E. Details and location F. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Rural Name Sugathakumari Name of Village/ ward Ponnani Age 50

Block/ District Malappuram Gender female FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 2056035 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 45 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 206 July 25968.9 13177 12641.89

PHH (cards) 349 August 24622.9 13840 10632.9

PHH (members) 1646 Septem 27091.9 13092.1 8529.8 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 3 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 0 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet(4) 2056025 G. Details and location H. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Rural Name Chandrashekaran Name of Village/ ward Thirur Age 60

Block/ District Malappuram Gender M FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 2056025 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 40 Month Allocation Distribution C losing Balance AAY (members) 230 July 35714.39 19582 16282.4

PHH (cards) 579 August 34282.4 19123.5 15308.9

PHH (members) 3210 Septem 36688.9 18865 11341.6 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 1 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 0 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet(5) 2054242 I. Details and location J. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Rural Name C P Ummar Name of Village/ ward Ponnani Age 55 Block/ District Malappuram Gender M FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 2054242 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 56 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 233 July 36200 7882.5 12207.5 PHH (cards) 217 August 10650 7612.5 12242 PHH (members) 832 Septem 13600 8991 12861 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 0 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 0 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records door step delivery No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

Thrissur

District Factsheet- B. Number of C. % of population covered under A. Population households NFSA 1107453 (census,2011) 252217 53.28 F. Godowns (storage D. NFSA Coverage details E. Number of Fair price shops points) PoS AAY PHH PHH Total PoS Manua Capacity (Onlin Numbers cards cards members shops (Offline) l (in MTs) e) 20432 112800 402074 1197 1197 0 0 7 800 H. NFSA food grains allocation and G. Details of posts at district level distribution (last three months) (in MTs) Name of the post Sanctioned strength Vacant positions Month Allocation Distribution Ration Inspector 1 0 July 3996600 3283064 Junior Assistant 2 0 August 4230450 3498660 Assistant Sales Septem 1 0 5177650 3225073 man ber

Godown Factsheets E. Location of Godown F. Details of Godowns District Name Thrissur Capacity (in MTs) 800 Block name Thrissur No. of FPS tagged 40 Address Maximum distance 30 km from FPS

G. Details of person power at godowns H. Facilities at godowns Name Facilities Availability Savitha Internet connectivity Yes (manager/outlet in charge-Junior Asst.)

Leela Electronic weigh Yes (Junior Asst.) machine/ bridge Computer room for Yes Supply chain management Toilet facility for No labour Accessibility by all- Yes weather road Firefighting Yes equipment

FPS level Factsheet (1) 1845154 K. Details and location L. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Urban Name K C Sukumaran Name of Village/ ward Kodungaloor Age 38 Block/ District Thrissur Gender M FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 184514 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 41 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 176 July 18135 8023.8 8621.19

PHH (cards) 141 August 19001.19 7560.7 6320.5

PHH (members) 528 Septem 21270.5 8271 7619.5 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 4 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 0 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet(2) 1841087 M. Details and location N. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Urban Name Shyju K S Name of Village/ ward 1841087 Age 48

Block/ District Thrissur Gender M FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 1841087 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 42 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 154 July 16510.5 6033 9607.5

PHH (cards) 139 August 18007.5 6105.5 11102

PHH (members) 544 Septem 19802 6139 9233 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 0 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 2 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 4 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet (3) 1845187 O. Details and location P. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Rural Name K U Pushpa Name of Village/ ward Kodungaloor Age 50

Block/ District Thrissur Gender F FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 1845187 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 42 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 154 July 33087.6 14379.4 12358.2

PHH (cards) 139 August 37258.2 14871.2 7827

PHH (members) 544 Septem 39227 14777 9260 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS food grains for distribution No Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS No Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category No facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY No correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ No items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 2 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 0 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet (4)1844010 Q. Details and location R. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Rural Name Johny V Name of Village/ ward Chvakad Age 45

Block/ District Thrissur Gender M FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 1844010 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 30 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 126 July 6310 2970.5 8283.25 PHH (cards) 54 August 5240 3157 10012.25 PHH (members) 231 Septem 4300 3484 10028.25 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards 0 Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members 0 Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

FPS level Factsheet(5) 1844030 S. Details and location T. Profile of FPS dealer Rural/ Urban Rural Name Niclaouse Name of Village/ ward Age 40 Block/ District Thrissur Gender M FPS id (as displayed in the portal) 1844030 Ownership Private C. NFSA cards/ members attached to FPS D. NFSA food grains at FPS level (last three months) AAY cards 29 Month Allocation Distribution Closing Balance AAY (members) 97 July 16050 8516.5 8612.5 PHH (cards) 214 August 12550 8310 10002.5 PHH (members) 838 Septem 12500 9107.5 10871 ber E. Facilities at FPS Yes/No F. Display of information/ transparency Yes/ No PoS device/ tablet Yes Samples of PDS foodgrains for distribution Yes Internet connectivity Yes Opening and closing times of FPS Yes Digital payment No Monthly entitlement of PHH & AAY category Yes facility Banking No Retail issue price per kg for PHH & AAY Yes correspondent category Sale of Non-PDS No Total no. of PHH & AAY households/ Yes items beneficiaries G. Number of silent rations cards List of names of PHH and AAY beneficiaries No No. of AAY cards Quantity received, distributed & in stock Yes No. of PHH cards Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series Yes No. of PHH members Name/ contact of vigilance committee members Yes H. Number of ration cards that have Contact of Authority for redressal of grievances Yes availed the facility for nomination or Availability of Stock register at FPS Yes door step delivery Availability of Category of commodity-wise Yes records No. of AAY cards 0 Availability of Register of beneficiaries Yes No. of PHH cards 0 Availability of Register of sales Yes

State Fact Sheets for Sharing Key Findings of Concurrent Evaluation

Name of State Kerala Name of MI University of Kerala

Time period (Quarter) (July- September No. of Sample districts 2 2019) District wise distribution of sample S.no District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 Total District names (Malappuram) (Thrissur)

1 Godowns 1 1 2 2 0 (VCs not 0 (VCs not 0 District VCs formed) formed) Rural 30 30 60 PHH 3 Urban 20 20 40 beneficiaries Total 50 50 100 Rural 15 15 30 AAY 4 Urban 10 10 20 beneficiaries Total 25 25 150 Rural 0 0 0 5 FPS level VCs Urban 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 Rural 3 3 6 6 FPS dealers Urban 2 2 4 Total 5 5 10

I Ration Card Management Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total sampl sampl e e 1. Has four-wheeler 0 75 0 75 No. of sample Has irrigated land above 5 acres 0 75 0 75 households Members pays income tax 0 75 0 75 meeting Member is govt Servant 0 75 0 75 following Meets any other exclusion criteria notified by 0 75 0 75 condition State Govt. Meeting any one of the above criteria 0 75 0 75 2. Number of sample households aware of eligible households in 75 75 15 10 their village who are not covered under NFSA? 3. Number of eligible but left-out households recollected by sample 75 75 10 15 households? 4. Number of eligible but left-out households identified by MI - - 30 20 during group discussion in the study village? 5. Number of eligible but left-out households verified by MI? 3 4 6. Number of households aware about the eligibility/ identification 75 75 60 55 criteria for availing benefits of National Food Security Act? 7. Number of households that has female members above 18 years 75 75 73 72 of age 8. Number of households where women above 18 yrs is recognised 75 75 73 72 as household head 9. Awareness of the process of applying for new or duplicate ration 75 75 30 15 card/ member addition & deletion etc.? 10. Awareness regarding online process for applying for new or 75 75 0 0 duplicate ration card/ member addition & deletion etc. 11. Number of households that reported new 17 75 ration card/addition & deletion in last one 13 75 year Average cost incurred by them for new 48 17 65 13 ration card/ modification etc. (in Rs.) New ration Average time taken for new ration card/ 90 card/addition & 90 modification etc. (in days.) deletion done in last Households traveling more than 5 kms to 42 75 one year 40 75 avail the RC related services Households traveling more than 10 kms 35 75 33 75 avail the RC related services Households traveling more than 20 kms 0 75 0 75 avail the RC related services

II Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total Quantity & Price sampl sample e 1 Number of households not aware about NFSA entitlements 10 75 15 75 2 Number of households not getting full quota of food grains in the 75 75 2 5 past six months 2 Reasons for not getting full Ration dealer refused to give full 5 2 quota quota Grain supplies "ran out" by the 0 time we went to buy/ Grain supplies 0 did not reach the ration shop Family migrated to other area 0 0 Did not have food grain 0 0 requirement/ did not lift voluntarily 3 Voluntarily not lifted Once 1 75 0 75 entitlement (in last three Twice 1 75 0 75 months) Thrice 0 75 0 75 4 Problem of under- Number of households 4 75 4 75 weighment encountering under-weighment Average quantity lost due to under 3kg 4kg weighment (per month 5 Problem of Overcharging Number of households reporting 0 75 0 75 overcharging of price Average amount given in excess 0 0 due to overcharging (per kg in Rs) 6 Display of sample food No. of households reporting that 0 75 grains sample of food grains are not 0 75 displayed at the ration shop Number of FPS where the 2 5 investigators did not observed 1 5 display of sample 7 No of households that found a lot of foreign particles in the food 75 75 5 8 grains 8 Satisfaction w.r.t rice & Number of Households not 49 75 55 75 wheat share satisfied Number of Households demanding 49 75 55 75 higher share of rice Number of Households demanding 40 75 52 75 higher share of wheat 9 Average Foodgrain Quantity consumed by HHds per capita per 75 75 43.46 46.93 month (in kg) 10 Average share of PDS grain (in %) 68.71 64.40 III Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total Fair Price Shop services sampl smple e 1 Ownership of Private 4 5 5 5 FPSs Panchayat Raj Institution 0 5 0 5 Cooperative 1 5 0 5 Women Self Help Group 0 5 0 5 Others 0 5 0 5 2 Average distance of FPS as reported by households (in km) 3 Number of more than 1 Km distance from FPS 12 75 13 75 households more than 2 Km distance from FPS 2 0 0 75 reporting more than 3 Km distance from FPS 0 0 0 75 4 Number of FPSs accessible with pucca road 5 5 5 5 5 Avg. no. of FPS open days in a month 20 75 25 75 6 Number of households not satisfied with number of FPS working 75 75 0 0 days 7 Number of households dissatisfied/ very dissatisfied with the 75 75 0 0 timings of distribution of food grains at PDS 8 Nomination/ No. of RCs availing nomination facility in 0 75 0 75 home delivery sample FPS facility in sample No. of RCs availing home delivery facility in 0 75 0 75 FPS sample FPS 9 Sample No. of sample households where all members 7 75 4 75 households who are above 65/ disabled reported availing No. of sample households availing 0 75 0 75 nomination/ home nomination facility delivery facility in No. of sample households availing home 0 75 0 75 FPS delivery facility in sample FPS 10 Number of FPSs Opening and closing times of FPS 5 5 5 5 where display of Monthly entitlement of PHH& AAY 5 5 the following category 5 5 information was observed 1 No of sample FPSs with e-POS machine 5 5 5 5 2 Number of households not getting a printed receipt from e-PoS 75 75 14 7 machine in local language 3 % of Household where not even one member has seeded Aadhaar 0 75 0 75 3 % of beneficiaries in sample households that have not seeded 100 100 5 4 Aadhaar number 4 Reason given by Not aware 0 5 0 3 beneficiaries for not Not applied for Aadhaar 0 5 3 3 seeding Aadhaar Applied but Aadhaar not generated 2 5 0 3 Detail submitted but not yet seeded 2 5 0 3 Do not wish to seed 0 5 0 3 5 Food Total food grain distributed in sample FPS during last 32671 5 12849 5 grain month transacti % of foodgrains sold through PoS in sample FPS 98.30 5 99.80 5 on last % of foodgrains sold after successful biometric 98.30 5 99.80 5 month at % of foodgrains sold after other forms of authentication 0 5 0 5 sample through PoS (OTP/ Photo) FPS (last % of foodgrains sold in non- authenticated mode 0 5 0 5 month) through PoS (in Kg) 6 Time Average time taken to complete one transaction 3-5 3-5 min taken to through PoS min complete No of households that reported more than 5 minutes per 2 75 2 75 one transaction transacti No of households that reported more than 10 minutes 0 75 0 75 on per transaction 7 Number of rations cards with biometric authentication failure in 2 3 sample FPSs during last month 8 Number of households who reported that in case of failure of PoS 75 75 5 6 machine, they receive food grains through alternative method 9 Number of sample households where not even one members in 75 75 sample households have performed successful Aadhaar based bio- 4 0 metric authentication / e-KYC at FPS at least once 11 % of silent RCs in sample FPS (not lifting food grains for last 9 8 three months) 12 FPS transaction report of the district is visible in State portal 5 5 5 5 13 FPS transaction reports of sample FPS are accurately displayed in the State portal/ annavitaran yes Yes 14 Key Language interface –voice/written available in local Yes Yes functionalit language ies of PoS e-KYC No No Best Finger Detection Yes Yes Fusion finger Yes Yes IRIS Yes Yes OTP Yes Yes Whip antenna to boost connectivity Yes Yes Integrated electronic weighing machine (Bluetooth/ Yes Yes Cable) 15 Is biometric authentication (Aadhaar) by dealer necessary to get Yes Yes access control of the PoS device? V PORTABILITY, DIGITAL PAYMENT & CASH Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total TRANSFERS sampl smple e 1 Number of households reported to have utilised 16 75 19 75 2 Reason for choosing a Go to nearest/ convenient FPS 12 16 15 19 different shop for lifting Get right quantity/ price 16 15 19 food grains 9 FPS dealer behavior 13 16 17 19 Due to migration 5 16 4 19 Others 0 16 0 19 2 Number of households preferring to receive cash subsidy in bank 75 75 account instead of food grains? (Rs. 26.66 in lieu of 1 kg of Rice 0 0 &Rs. 19.69 in lieu of 1 Kg of wheat.) 3 Reason given by households for Do not have bank a/c 0 75 0 75 not preferring Cash transfers Bank a/c is not operational 0 75 0 75 Not accustomed to use bank 15 75 12 75 a/c Foodgrains from market 75 75 75 75 would be of higher price Risk of misuse of cash for 75 75 73 75 non-food items Others 0 0 VI Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total DISTRICT LEVEL GODOWN sampl smple e 1 Number of godowns with storage capacity less than a month’s 0 1 0 1 requirement 2 Number of godowns covered by Supply Chain Management 1 1 1 1 3 Internet Connectivity 1 1 1 1 Electronic weigh machine/ bridge 1 1 1 1 Electronic weigh bridge linked to online 1 1 1 1 Number of system godowns with Computer room for Supply chain 1 1 1 1 following management Infrastructure Accessibility with all weather road 1 1 1 1 Electronic weigh machine/ bridge 1 1 1 1 4 Number of godowns with vacant posts 0 1 0 1 5 Average sanctioned staff strength in godowns 4 4 6 Average vacant posts in godowns 0 0 7 Number of godowns where staff received training on SCM 1 1 1 1 8 Number of godowns where SCM user manual is provided to Staff 1 1 1 1 9 No of godowns with instance of delay in receipt of food grains 0 1 0 1 (last two months) 10 No of godowns with instance of delay in dispatch of food grains 0 1 0 1 to Fair Price Shop (last two months) 11 No of godowns with instance of not lifting entire allocated 0 1 0 1 quantity within validity period reported (in last six months) 12 No. of godowns with instance of diversion/ black marketing of 0 1 0 1 foodgrains reported from Godowns VII SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total sampl smple e 1 No of FPS reporting implementation of Door- step-delivery 5 5 5 5 implemented 2 Number of households reporting to have received SMS alerts on 75 75 66 75 arrival of foodgrain at FPS 3 Average Monthly cost borne by FPS dealer for grain 0 5 0 5 transportation & handling (in Rs) 4 Number of FPS selling Non PDS commodities 0 5 0 5 performing BC/ CSC operations 0 5 0 5 having digital payment facility 0 5 0 5 5 Number of households Purchase Non PDS commodities 0 75 0 75 availing following BC/CSC facility 0 75 0 75 services from FPS digital payment facility 0 75 0 75 BC/CSC facility 0 75 0 75 digital payment facility 0 75 0 75 6 Average revenue of FPS dealer from PDS– in Rs 43861 27103 .6

7 Average revenue of FPS dealer from non- PDS activities – in Rs 2632 2436

8 Avg. monthly profit for FPS (PDS+ Non-PDS) (Revenue- 30359. 15901 Expen) – in Rs 05 .52

9 Number of FPSs running on loss 0 5 0 5 10 Number of FPSs making profit of less that Rs 5000 per month 0 5 0 5 11 Number of FPSs interested in performing BC/ CSC operations 5 5 4 5 12 Number of Households interested in availing BC/CSC services 75 75 75 75 from FPS 13 FPSs reporting pendency in receipt of FPS commission 1 5 1 5 VII GRIEVANCE REDRESSAL Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total I sampl smple e 1 No of FPSs displaying the Toll free number 5 5 5 5 2 No of FPSs displaying the details of DGRO/SFC 5 5 5 5 3 Number of Households recalling the toll free helpline for TPDS 25 75 23 75 4 Number of Households aware about the role DGRO 0 75 0 75 5 Number of Households aware about the role state Food 75 0 75 commission 6 Number of households lodging grievance related to functioning 0 75 0 75 of ration shop/ Public Distribution System, in last one year 7 Status of grievance Not resolved 0 0 0 0 Yes, but not all (Partially) 0 0 0 0 Yes, all grievances resolved 0 0 0 0 8 Average time taken to resolve the grievance (in days) - 9 Number of households reported to be satisfied with the steps 0 0 0 0 taken for resolving greivance 10 Number of Denial of foodgrains 0 75 0 75 households lodging Lower quantity of foodgrains issued 0 75 0 75 grievance related to Higher price charged 0 75 0 75 following Poor quality of foodgrains 0 75 0 75 Non-Issue of ration card 0 75 0 75 Delay in addition/ deletion in ration card 0 75 0 75 Non-display of required details at FPS 0 75 0 75 Misbehavior of FPS dealer 0 75 0 75 Delay in arrival of foodgrains 0 75 0 75 PoS related issue 0 75 0 75 other 11 Number of Helpline number 0 75 0 75 households availing Online portal 0 75 0 75 following facility to Vigilance Committee 0 75 0 75 lodge grievance District Grievance Redressal Officer 0 75 0 75 State Food Commission 0 75 0 75 Other places 0 75 0 75 IX FPS LEVEL VIGILANCE COMMITTEE Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total sampl smple e 1 Number of FPSs where vigilance committees are formed 0 5 0 5 2 Local authorities. Number of FPS Women member level vigilance Member from Scheduled Castes committees having Member from Scheduled Tribes, representation from Destitute or Person with disability following groups 3 Number of None meetings held by FPS level VC in last At least once or twice or more six months 4 No. of FPS level VC that had attended any training program 5 No. of FPS level VCs maintaining the records of minutes 6 No of FPS level VCs reporting violation/ malpractice to DGRO 7 No. of FPS level VCs reporting violation/ malpractice to other authorities 8 No. of FPS level VCs where members were receiving SMS alerts on arrival of food grains 9 Number of VCs Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series where members SMS alert service about arrival of were awareness foodgrains at FPS about the following Provision to make written complaint to DGRO by VC members Requirement to hold meeting at least once in a quarter Requirement to maintain minutes of meetings of VC meetings 10 No. of households the FPS level vigilance committee who were aware the members of PDS Vigilance Committee about at FPS level role and functioning of vigilance committee 11 No. of households who approached the vigilance committee for information, grievance or any other problem related to PDS 12 No. of such households who found VC members helpful X DISTRICT LEVEL VIGILANCE COMMITTEE Dist 1 Total Dist 2 Total sampl smple e 1 No. of districts where the vigilance committees are formed 0 0 0 0 2 Number of District Local authorities. level vigilance Women member committees having Member from Scheduled Castes representation from Member from Scheduled Tribes, following groups Destitute or Person with disability 3 Number of None meetings held by At least once or twice or more District level VC in last six months 4 No. of District level VC that had attended any training program 5 Average number of FPSs visited for monitoring by District level VC in last three months 6 No. of District level VCs maintaining the records of minutes 7 No of District level VCs reporting violation/ malpractice to DGRO 8 No. of District level VCs reporting violation/ malpractice to other authorities 9 Number of VCs Toll free helpline number 1967/ 1800 series where members SMS alert service about arrival of were awareness foodgrains at FPS about the following Provision to make written complaint to DGRO by VC members Requirement to hold meeting at least once in a quarter Requirement to maintain minutes of meetings of VC meetings