Question

What are the problems of the functioning of ration shops?

Answer 1

• There have been many instances where dealers in the Public Distribution System (PDS) have been indulging in malpractices.
• To get higher margins, these dealers have been found to be diverting the grains to the open market.
• Dealers open the ration shops at irregular times.
• Poor quality grains are sold at ration shops by the dealers.
• It is commonly found that ration shops have stocks of poor-quality grains which are unsold.
• This has proven to be a major problem with ration shops.
• At Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns, large stocks of foodgrains pile up when ration shops are not able to sell the foodgrains.
• Another factor has led to the deterioration of the Public Distribution System (PDS), in the recent past.
• Initially, all the non-poor and poor families had ration cards, which provided a fixed quota of items such as sugar, wheat, rice, etc.
• Every family received them at the same low price.
• These days, there are three different types of cards and different ranges of prices which did not exist earlier.
• There is a fixed quota, foodgrains could be purchased from the ration shops by many families.
• Families which had low incomes but were marginally higher incomes when compared Below Poverty Line families were also included.
• Now, any family above the poverty line hardly gets any discount at ration shops.
• There are hardly any incentives for the APL family to buy from ration shops as the prices are almost the same as the market price.