In 2018, the British and Indian Prime Ministers declared a strategic UK-India Tech Partnership. The shared vision was to “bring the best mind in tech” together to address the global issues while also creating high value jobs and growing the economies of both nations. AsterQuanta applied for the pilot project where the project was shortlisted by the UK Government for the Frontier Technologies Livestreaming program. Sampoorna Swaraj Foundation works as a partner along with AsterQuanta in the pilot program of Public Distribution System (PDS).

The existing Public Distribution System in India caters to the needs of hundreds of millions of beneficiaries across the country. The people living Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) are the prime beneficiaries through the Public Distribution System. This distribution system was started to address the problem of unavailability of basic food items at affordable prices. An efficient PDS is essential for our citizens to avail the service from the Fair Price Shops (FPS). The existing system allows the beneficiaries to avail the services only from designated ration shops using a ration card. Currently, we only have about 5.5 lakh Fair Price Shops in India which is not enough to cater to the needs of the people.

The pandemic has also proven the importance of the availability of food items at affordable prices. During the pandemic, people living on minimum wage were affected the most. There was shortage of food and other essential items especially among the poor. These recent events shows the importance of this pilot project through which the challenges and the potential of the system will be determined.

The pandemic has also proven the importance of the availability of food items at affordable prices. During the pandemic, people living on minimum wage were affected the most. There was shortage of food and other essential items especially among the poor. These recent events shows the importance of this pilot project through which the challenges and the potential of the system will be determined.

The App Interface for PDS

The proposed idea is based on a solution for a more efficient Public Distribution System which allows the retail shops to provide Fair Price Shop items to the beneficiaries. This means the retail shops will become outlets where the beneficiaries can produce a document to avail the items. The availability of retail shops in all the villages makes it possible to look at this as a potential solution when it comes to easy access of FPS items for the beneficiaries.

A part of the solution is developing a mobile application that will automate all the steps involved in acquiring ration. The citizens can log in to the app using a username and password. Once they log in to the app, they can place the order for the items which will be available at the nearest registered retail shop. With these tools merged together, the citizens will be able to order ration easily from the nearest retail shop where the citizen can go and pick it up once it has arrived.

Samoorna Swaraj Foundation is working on the implementation of the pilot project in Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka. The organisation is also working on training of stakeholders using Navigated Learning Technology. All the stakeholders will be trained and educated on the proposed system, and how to use the app for the beneficiaries.

These images are the screenshots from our pilot project showing how the beneficiary places orders for the FPS items from the retail shops. In the first step, the customer chooses the beneficiary details, then goes on to select the items. The third step shows the price where the customer confirms the order. The beneficiary chooses the retail shop from where he/she wishes to collect the ration. Once the order is confirmed, a unique order ID is generated for the beneficiary.

Once the customer places the order for the items through the app, the retail shop gets notified about the order. If the items are available, he chooses the “Supply” option which automatically notifies the beneficiary. Once the beneficiary gets the notification, he/she can go and collect the order from the retail shop.