Thiruvananthapuram: To strengthen the public distribution system, the state government has decided to entirely computerize the food distribution.

The initiative is abiding by the Supreme Court directive and will be implemented with the help of the central government, said food and civil supplies minister Anoop Jacob. A two-day seminar has been organized on January 28 and 29 in Thiruvananthapuram to mobilize expert opinion on the implementation the programme.

Indian households purchased much more food items through the public distribution system (PDS) in 2009-10 than they did five years ago, the 66th National Sample Survey has indicated, raising doubts over the effectiveness of the government’s new direct cash transfer system over a large base.

Greater penetration and higher use of the PDS will make it difficult for the government to eventually deliver the Rs 75,000-crore food subsidy to its eligible beneficiaries.

The parliamentary panel on food has indicated that the government may revise the prices of foodgrains distributed through the food security scheme to contain the widening fiscal deficit.

For more than a year, the government has been holding record foodgrain stocks. The law related to providing food security is pending in Parliament.

Parliament's Standing Committee also proposed the State Food Commissions be vested with powers to check the quality of foodgrains before delivery from the central government.

Parliament's Standing Committee also proposed the State Food Commissions be vested with powers to check the quality of foodgrains before delivery from the central government

If the suggestions of Parliament’s standing committee on food are incorporated in the final version of the ambitious Food Security Bill, then beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System ( PDS) will for the first time have a right to reject inferior quality foodgrains. The committee, which presented its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar yesterday, has said the central government should prescribe a minimum quality norm for grain to be distributed under the proposed law.

As the Parliamentary standing committee examining the National Food Security Bill recommended scrapping of ‘general’ and ‘priority’ categorisation and a uniform monthly legal entitlement of 5 kg fo

The Indian government is sitting on one of world's biggest hoards of food grains, about 667 lakh tons as of January 1, 2013.

New Delhi: Says direct cash transfer in lieu of grain currently not desirable

A Parliamentary panel on the food security Bill has suggested providing legal entitlement of 5 kg of heavily-subsidised grain to each beneficiary per month, which would cover 67% of the country's population. The Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, headed by Vilas Muttemwar, also said the direct cash transfer in lieu of grain entitlements at this juncture may not be desirable, suggesting that banking infrastructure and accessibility to banking facility need to be made available throughout India before introducing the cash transfer.