The Public Distribution System’s (PDS) e-Veification in Delhi, the government of Delhi has completed e-verification of ration cards for around 1.9 lakh beneficiaries. This is a part of the larger goal of ensuring food subsidies are availed of by the intended people without rationing discrepancies and improving transparency.
Verification of e- ration cards stands at 1.9 lakh in Delhi marking an important milestone towards modernization of Public Distribution System. The state government is making efforts to use modern technologies with initiatives like the ‘Mera e-KYC’ mobile application which helps beneficiaries verify their details, showing that the government is working towards transparency and efficiency in the distribution of food subsidies. Addressing the issues in hand will help strengthen the system further to help millions of beneficiaries in the capital.
To assist in the completion of e-verification, the government of Delhi launched the ‘Mera e-KYC’ mobile app. The application easily allows users to perform KYC steps without the necessity to visit government offices. Feedback from users post rolling out the app has been largely positive as it eases the verification of KYC making it easy for larger constituents.
This exercise is a major step towards transforming PDS in New Delhi. The government seeks to reduce fraud and expenditure misallocation by e-verifying beneficiaries’ records and assigning Aadhaar numbers to them. This not only streamlines the system, but also improves the degree of beneficiaries’ trust over the aid allocation.
In as much as the e-verification process represents significant advancement, there are still issues of digital literacy and smartphone ownership for certain beneficiary demographics.
The government intends to tackle these challenges through awareness sessions as well as giving aid to users who find the interface challenging. If successful, this step could encourage other states to digitize their PDS and improve service provision as well.
