Parliament Question: Fair Price Shops under PDS in Bihar

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 40 10 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12Tll AUGUST, 2026 FAIR PRICE SHOPS UNDER PDS IN BIHAR 4010 SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased

to state:

(a) whether the Government has assessed the functioning of Fair Price Shops under the Public Distribution System in the State of Bihar during the last three years and the current year;

(b) if so, the details thereof including the total number of Fair Price Shops operating in Bihar, district-wise including Maharajganj Lok Sabha Constituency;

(c) whether cases of irregularities including diversion of foodgrains, under-weighment, nonopening of shops on scheduled days and complaints against Fair Price Shop dealers have been reported in Bihar

(d) if so, the details thereof, district-wise along with the action taken against erring Fair Price Shop dealers and measures taken to improve monitoring, inspection and accountability; and

(e) whether the Government proposes to modernize Fair Price Shops in Bihar through installation of electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices, digital stock management and other technology-driven reforms and if so, the details thereoF ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)

(a) to (e): Yes. In order to strengthen implementation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PIVIGKAY) under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, the Department of Food and Public Distribution conducted the concurrent evaluation for assessment of the implementation of PMGKAY during 2025-26. The assessment, inter alia, evaluates operational performance, including the functioning of Fair Price Shops (FPSs). The assessment outcomes are generated at National/State level.

The performance indicators under the Service Delivery and Infrastructure & Supply Chain assess the functioning of FPSs. The State of Bihar performs strongly in Service Delivery while moderately in Infrastructure & Supply Chain. As per the concurrent evaluation surrey, the Estimated percentage of Service Delivery and Infrastructure & Supply Chain of different indicators with regard to functioning ofFPSs are given at Annexure-l.The total number of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) under NFSA are 51,965 in Bihar and the statement indicating the District-wise FPSs, is at Annexure-II.

Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under NFS A, 2013 is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State/ Union Territory (UT) Governments. Central Government is responsible for procurement, allocation and transportation of foodgrains upto the designated depots of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The operational responsibilities for allocation of foodgrains within the States/ UTs, identification of eligible beneficiaries, issuance of ration cards to them, distribution of foodgrains to eligible beneficiaries under TPDS, issuance of license to FPS dealers, supervision over and monitoring of functioning of FPSs etc. rest with the concerned State/UT Governments.

Helpline number 1967/1800-State series number is operational in all the States/ UTs for contacting and redressal of the complaints/grivences in Public Distribution System and filing any type of complaints by the intended beneficiaries. Accordingly, as and when any type of complaints/ grievances related to TPDS are received in this Department from any source, they are sent to concerned State/UT Governments for inquiry and appropriate action.

An offence committed in violation of the provisions of TPDS (Control) Order, 2015 is liable for penal action under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. Thus, the (,')rder empowers State/ UT Governments to take punitive action in case of contravention of relevant provisions of these Orders.

The steps taken by the Government for modernization, digitization and transparency in Public Distribution System (PDS) in the country (including Bihar) are as below: i. Digitisation & Aadhaar seeding: Ration cards/beneficiary database 100% digitised in all States/UTs; 99.7% of ration cards Aadhaar-seeded, eliminating bogus/duplicate cards.

ii. Transparency & grievance redressal: Transparency portals and online grievance redressal/toll- free helplines operational in all States/UTs. iii. Online allocation & supply chain computerisation: Online allocation implemented in all States/UTs; supply chain computerised in 31 States/UTs (except Chandigarh, Puducherry and urban Dadra & Nagar Haveli, which have adopted DBT Cash Transfer).

iv. ePoS-based Aadhaar authentication at FPS level: 5.50 lakh (99.8%) of 5.51 lakh Fair Price Shops automated with ePoS devices, ensuring biometric authentication of beneficiaries at the point of distribution and curbing diversionv. One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC): Nationwide portability implemented across all 36 States/UTs, covering all PMGKAY beneficiaries; over 221 crore portability transactions recorded to date, reducing exclusion and duplicate entitlement claims.

vi. Rightful Targeting (RT): A dedicated de-duplication and beneficiary-verification exercise using Aadhaar/PDS data analytics has led to identification and deletion of ineligible/duplicate beneficiaries, with 5.95 Cr flagged beneficiaries (excluding landholding cases) and 2.35 Cr deleted beneficiaries.

vii. SMART-PDS reform initiative: Being implemented with modules for Ration Card Management, Distribution, Supply Chain and Grievance Redressal to further standardise and digitally integrate State-level TPDS operations.

viii. NIRMAL & SAKSHAM: New initiatives under the SARTH AK PDS Umbrella Scheme (2026–31) aimed at strengthening data architecture/analytics (NIRM AL) and real-time data integration (including VLTS) from Procurement of food grains to Distribution to the beneficiaries

(Saksham). $88+8Annexu re-I ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4010 FOR ANSWER ON 12.08.2026 IN THE LOK SABHA As per the Survey, Estimated percentage of indicators State Beneficiaries collecting ration in a single FPS visit. 97.3 Beneficiaries receiving ration within 30 minutes 66.5

47.8 FPSs maintaining satisfactory cleanliness standards FPSs equipped with Iris Scanners 62.3

10.4 FPSs using manual weighing systems FPSs using electronic weighing systems 96.2 FPSs conducting weighing machine calibration 90.5

99.4 FPSs connected through WhatsApp communication systems FPSs owners reporting operational viability of FPSs 31.3 FPSs enabled for ONORC transactions 93.4

68.4 FPSs actively implementing ONORC services FPSs monitored by Vigilance Committees 30.1 FPSs maintaining complaint registration systems 51.1Annexu re-II ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4010 FOR ANSWER ON 12.08.2026 IN THE LOK SABHA District wise No. Of Fair Price Shol in Bihar S.No. s I mA 1 ,472 m4 n3 A HI mB mI 5 E Bl 6 B nl BHOJPUR ml la BUXAR [tm 9 R tAYA n2 10 11 }OPALGANJ HI 12 mJ B8 13 E B5 Im 14 [ 15 F m5 16 lRK 1846 17 B8 I m 18 m mv 19 ml 20 RNDmBaM- B2 21 mN Im 22 1) n2 & 23 1) 1, 408 24 ml rpa 25 mI 26 mp n2 [PrR 27 m2 28 mp troT 29 mR 1,516 msmT 30 m9 31 S B2 32 ms n3 33 Smsm B3 34 m3 35 S 1,671 ms 36 IfLm 1, 667 rIm 37 I 38 m 1, 324 TOTAL #####