The Public Distribution System (PDS) in India plays a crucial role in ensuring food security by distributing subsidized food grains to the poor. Regulated under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, it is the world’s largest food security programme, covering nearly 60% of the Indian population with a budget of Rs.1.45 trillion. Over the years, various measures have been taken by the government to ensure better targeting, coverage, and delivery efficiency of the PDS.

Some of the notable initiatives include:

1.  National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013: The NFSA was a key legislation aiming at delivering subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of India’s population. Under the Act, 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population are entitled to receive 5 kg of food grains per person per month at highly subsidized rates of ₹3, ₹2, and ₹1 per kg for rice, wheat, and coarse grains, respectively. The Act also includes provisions for nutritional support to pregnant women and lactating mothers, and children up to 14 years of age through the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meal schemes. By ensuring legal entitlements to food, the NFSA aims to enhance food security and reduce hunger.
2. Aadhaar-based Identification: The integration of Aadhaar, India’s biometric-based unique identification system, with PDS has brought a remarkable reform in ensuring transparency and efficiency of the system. Aadhaar seeding in ration cards eliminated duplicate and bogus cards, ensuring that food grains reach the intended beneficiaries. The use of Aadhaar authentication at the point of sale (PoS) terminals has further reduced leakages and diversions by verifying the identity of the beneficiary at the time of food grain distribution.
3. One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC): The ONORC initiative, launched in 2019, allows beneficiaries to access their PDS entitlements from any fair price shop (FPS) across the country. This is particularly beneficial for migrant workers and their families, who often face difficulties in accessing PDS benefits due to their mobility. By ensuring portability of ration cards, ONORC aims to provide seamless access to subsidized food grains, irrespective of the beneficiary’s location.

Challenges in Ensuring Universal and Equitable Distribution of PDS Benefits:

Despite these significant reforms, several challenges persist in ensuring the universal and equitable distribution of PDS benefits:

• Exclusion Errors: Due to the dependence on the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data for identifying beneficiaries, many deserving households are left out of the PDS ambit.

• Inclusion Errors: Conversely, inclusion errors also occur where non-eligible households receive benefits. This misallocation of resources undermines the efficiency of the system.

• Technological and Infrastructure Gaps: In many rural and remote areas, inadequate digital infrastructure, frequent power outages, and internet connectivity issues hamper the effective implementation of Aadhaar identification ONORC.

• Corruption and Leakages: Despite Aadhaar-based reforms, corruption and leakages persist in some regions due to collusion between FPS owners and local officials.

• Awareness deficiency : Lack of awareness among beneficiaries about their entitlements and the grievance redressal mechanisms limits the effective utilization of PDS benefits.

Conclusion

The measures taken by the government, such as the NFSA, Aadhaar-based identification, and ONORC, have significantly improved the targeting, coverage, and delivery efficiency of the PDS. However, to achieve universal and equitable distribution of PDS benefits, it is essential to address the persisting challenges. This requires continuous monitoring, updating of beneficiary data, strengthening digital and physical infrastructure, enhancing transparency, and ensuring effective grievance redressal mechanisms. By addressing these challenges, India can move closer to its goal of equitable distribution and food security for all its citizens.

Farm subsidy is a financial support provided by the government to farmers and agricultural producers in order to enhance farm productivity, incentivise adoption of sustainable agricultural techniques, thus supplementing their income, ensuring food security and agricultural development in the country. It was introduced back in 1964 in India and at present, the total subsidy offered to farmers is 2% of our GDP.  

Farm subsidies can be broadly divided in two categories:

1. Direct subsidy – As the name suggests, it is directly given to the farmers in cash, for example PM KISAN scheme.
2. Indirect Subsidy – It is not directly paid to farmers but aid them by lowering farm input prices, providing affordable credit and crop insurance, waiving loan and assuring a floor price for their farm produce (MSP). It is a non monetary benefit.

Impact of Farm Subsidies on Farmers:

Farm subsidies have both the positive and negative impact on farmer’s lives. Let’s have a look into each of these one by one:

Positive Impact:

• Enhanced earnings: Farm subsidies provide assured income to small farmers by direct monetary transfers and fixing the floor price for agricultural produce. It also augments their profit margins by lowering farm input costs, thus overall raising farmers income.
• Upgrade in living standards: Increased earning of farmers and food security give them better purchasing power which help them in tackling problems like malnutrition, illiteracy that eventually improves the general level of living of their family.
• High Yield: Lower prices of farm input like HYV seeds, fertilizers, electricity, irrigation facilities and easy credit availability helps the farmer in mechanizing their production process which increases crop yield per hectare of land.
• Risk coverage: Marginalized farmers are the most vulnerable to crop failure, but indirect subsidy like PMFBY provide them the benefits of crop insurance in adverse situations and make them feel safer in practicing agriculture.
• Bridging the income gap: Small and marginal farmers get benefited with subsidies like direct monetary benefit and lowered farm input prices which helps them in better investment in their farm lands, thus surging their farm productivity and raised income. This eventually bridges their income gap and fosters inclusivity in the agriculture sector.
• Technological and skill development: These subsidies also include various welfare schemes and training programs which equips farmers with better skills and technological know-how.

Negative Impact:

• Poor targeting and Corruption: The marginalized and landless farmers do not reap the benefits of subsidy due to corruption in the government system and ill targeting of these subsidies.
• Widened inequalities: Mostly the rich farmers enjoy the benefits of indirect subsidies and infrastructural development in agriculture as they are not uniformly dispersed in all regions of the country and small and marginalized farmers lack proper awareness about them. This further escalates regional and income inequality.

In India, more than 60% of the population is involved in agricultural and allied activities which contributes to a staggering 18 – 19% of total GDP which reflects our systemic failure in providing farmers with better income opportunities. Farm subsidies are definitely a good tool to assist them in escalating their earning curve with higher production, easy availability of credit for new investments and proper training and skill development programs. Proper targeting of direct subsidies, reduced corruption and uniform infrastructural development in all regions will raise the earning bars for marginalized farmers and improve their living standards. It is only with the proper employment of available human and physical resources we can achieve our target for an equitable development and growth of the nati‍on.

Farm subsidy is a financial support provided by the government to farmers and agricultural producers in order to enhance farm productivity, incentivise adoption of sustainable agricultural techniques, thus supplementing their income, ensuring food security and agricultural development in the country. It was introduced back in 1964 in India and at present, the total subsidy offered to farmers is 2% of our GDP.  

Farm subsidies can be broadly divided in two categories:

1. Direct subsidy – As the name suggests, it is directly given to the farmers in cash, for example PM KISAN scheme.
2. Indirect Subsidy – It is not directly paid to farmers but aid them by lowering farm input prices, providing affordable credit and crop insurance, waiving loan and assuring a floor price for their farm produce (MSP). It is a non monetary benefit.

Impact of Farm Subsidies on Farmers:

Farm subsidies have both the positive and negative impact on farmer’s lives. Let’s have a look into each of these one by one:

Positive Impact:

• Enhanced earnings: Farm subsidies provide assured income to small farmers by direct monetary transfers and fixing the floor price for agricultural produce. It also augments their profit margins by lowering farm input costs, thus overall raising farmers income.
• Upgrade in living standards: Increased earning of farmers and food security give them better purchasing power which help them in tackling problems like malnutrition, illiteracy that eventually improves the general level of living of their family.
• High Yield: Lower prices of farm input like HYV seeds, fertilizers, electricity, irrigation facilities and easy credit availability helps the farmer in mechanizing their production process which increases crop yield per hectare of land.
• Risk coverage: Marginalized farmers are the most vulnerable to crop failure, but indirect subsidy like PMFBY provide them the benefits of crop insurance in adverse situations and make them feel safer in practicing agriculture.
• Bridging the income gap: Small and marginal farmers get benefited with subsidies like direct monetary benefit and lowered farm input prices which helps them in better investment in their farm lands, thus surging their farm productivity and raised income. This eventually bridges their income gap and fosters inclusivity in the agriculture sector.
• Technological and skill development: These subsidies also include various welfare schemes and training programs which equips farmers with better skills and technological know-how.

Negative Impact:

• Poor targeting and Corruption: The marginalized and landless farmers do not reap the benefits of subsidy due to corruption in the government system and ill targeting of these subsidies.
• Widened inequalities: Mostly the rich farmers enjoy the benefits of indirect subsidies and infrastructural development in agriculture as they are not uniformly dispersed in all regions of the country and small and marginalized farmers lack proper awareness about them. This further escalates regional and income inequality.

In India, more than 60% of the population is involved in agricultural and allied activities which contributes to a staggering 18 – 19% of total GDP which reflects our systemic failure in providing farmers with better income opportunities. Farm subsidies are definitely a good tool to assist them in escalating their earning curve with higher production, easy availability of credit for new investments and proper training and skill development programs. Proper targeting of direct subsidies, reduced corruption and uniform infrastructural development in all regions will raise the earning bars for marginalized farmers and improve their living standards. It is only with the proper employment of available human and physical resources we can achieve our target for an equitable development and growth of the nation.