Context:

Recently, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution launched ‘Anna Chakra’, the Public Distribution System (PDS) Supply chain optimisation tool and SCAN (Subsidy Claim Application for NFSA) portal. 

Anna Chakra

It is a landmark initiative to enhance the efficiency of the PDS logistics network across the country.

• PDS is the system for distribution of essential commodities to the ration cardholders through the fair price shops by the Central Government under Section 2 of the National Food Security Act, 2013.

Developed in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT-Delhi, the project leverages advanced algorithms to identify optimal routes and ensure seamless movement of food grains across supply chain nodes. 

• WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization established in 1961.

The route optimization assessment has been done for 30 states and the results show tremendous promise with the estimated cost saving of about Rs. 250 crores per annum.

This exercise has covered 4.37 Lakhs Fair Price Shops and approx. 6700 warehouses involved in the PDS supply chain.

The interstate route optimization tool has been developed for the optimization of the PDS movement between the states and it is integrated with the FOIS (Freight Operations Information System) portal of the Railways through the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP). 

• ULIP is a digital gateway that allows industry players to access logistics-related datasets from various Government systems through application programming interface (API) based integration.

Besides improved efficiency and cost savings through the streamlined delivery routes reducing fuel consumption, time, and logistics costs, it also provides environmental benefits of lower carbon footprint due to reduced transportation-related emissions. 

SCAN (Subsidy Claim Application for National Food Security Act) Portal 

• It will provide for a single window submission of subsidy claims by states, claim scrutiny and approval by the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) facilitating an expeditious settlement process. 
• The portal will ensure end-to-end workflow automation of all the processes for the release and settlement of food subsidies using rule-based processing.