- Targeting:
- Earlier PDS was a general entitlement scheme, not specifically targeted.
- TPDS (1997) focused on the poor, but identification of poor was a challenge.
- NFSA 2013 covers 75% rural and 50% urban population, still a large number.
- Delivery:
- FCI’s procurement policy is open-ended, leading to huge buffer stocks and storage costs.
- Inefficiencies in procurement, storage, transportation, and distribution.
- Leakages and diversion in the Public Distribution System (PDS).
- Corruption in the procurement process.
- Farmers deriving signals from government policies, not market demand.
- This affects diversification and environmentally sustainable production.