99.4% of Fair Price Shops in Karnataka automated

The authorities has automated 20,741 Fair Price Shops (FPSs) accounting for 99.4% of the full 20,862 FPSs successful the State by installing physics Point of Sale (ePoS) devices, strengthening transparency and accountability successful the Public Distribution System (PDS), according to Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department.

The large-scale automation enables the physics organisation of foodgrains done biometric oregon Aadhaar-based authentication, helping trim leakage, forestall fraud, and guarantee that beneficiaries person their entitled rations. The inaugural is portion of a broader integer propulsion to modernise the PDS and has been nether mode since April 2023.

Officials said that the ration paper and database of beneficiaries successful Karnataka person been afloat digitised, with ration cards Aadhaar-seeded to facilitate seamless authentication. Under the system, beneficiaries tin entree their afloat entitlement by entering either their ration paper fig oregon Aadhaar fig into the ePoS instrumentality astatine the FPS, followed by biometric verification utilizing fingerprints oregon iris scans.

ePoS modernises ration shops

“The digitised strategy ensures that beneficiaries tin person foodgrains with minimal quality intervention,” an authoritative told The Hindu, adding that the level besides enables entree to allied integer initiatives specified arsenic One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC), the Mera Ration App, Anna Sahayata, and different payment services.

According to officials, the ePoS devices supply a azygous handheld solution for retailers, wholesalers, and tract operators to negociate sales, billing, inventory tracking, weighing, and integer payments. This integrated attack not lone improves ratio but besides acts arsenic a beardown deterrent against malpractices astatine just terms shops.

“Biometric authentication linked to Aadhaar plays a cardinal relation successful eliminating “ghost beneficiaries” and curbing the diversion of subsidised foodgrains into the unfastened market. Each transaction is recorded electronically and uploaded successful existent clip to a cardinal server, enabling end-to-end computerisation of the proviso chain. This allows officials to show organisation astatine assorted levels, reducing dependence connected manual registers and limiting the scope for manipulation,” the authoritative explained.

100% ration cards digitised nationwide

Many ePoS systems are besides integrated with physics weighing machines, ensuring that beneficiaries person the nonstop quantity of foodgrains they are entitled to and preventing under-weighing by dealers, officials said.

The automation thrust aligns with directions from the Centre, which has asked each States to instrumentality a broad astute PDS strategy by March 2026. In a reply tabled successful the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya said that 100% digitisation of ration paper and beneficiary databases has been completed crossed each States and Union Territories, with 99.9% of ration cards Aadhaar-seeded nationwide.