Mangaluru: Food and Civil supplies minister U T Khader today announced major reforms to solve all problems, relating to distribution with coupon system, getting new ration cards with pruned documentation and ration procurement through fair price shops with ease. A ration card holder can now procure ration from any of the fair price shops within a hobli according to U T Khader. The former health minister’s concern for the health of the consumer was evident in his announcements. 
Khader announced a string of measures during a press meet in Mangaluru on Saturday. A few of them are listed below:
For fair price shop owners
Profit on sale of rice for fair price shop (FPS) owners will be Rs 100 per quintal from existing Rs 36. Next month onwards Rs 90 will be given and balance Rs 10 more when coupon distribution becomes operational.
For kerosene it will be Rs 2 from the present 0.75. Gradually, palm oil and salt will be included where FPS owners will benefit.
For consumers
Coupons are being introduced to prevent bogus cards, leakages in distribution and to ease procurement at consumer level. For kerosene, coupons in towns and corporation limits are already in force. In Bengaluru, under BBMP limits all items including kerosene will be issued using coupon system from next month.
He said when technology takes over, poor and illiterates suffer. The coupon system will eliminate anomalies and it is being taken up on a pilot basis in few panchayats like Gurpur and Kinya in Dakshina Kannada.
Each fair price shop handles 1500 cards, where as in some places consumers have to travel far to get monthly ration. The coupon system once implemented will ease the problem. One can use the coupons and purchase ration from any fair price shop in that hobli. The shop owner will get an additional incentive of Rs 2 for each card and if he distributes ration for 5 families he will get Rs 10 in total. The shop which impresses the customers can perform well and earn more incentives.
To prevent thumb related problems, eye vision of Aadhar will be used while issuing coupons. Linking Aadhar with eye vision will eliminate bogus cards, leakages in distribution and the saved amount be will be used for other schemes. Prizes will be given for informers who report misuse.
IVRS for ease in procurement
An Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) linked to Aadhar will be employed to issue coupons where a ration card holder has to dial a toll free number 1614. In response, he will get a voice message followed by an SMS with details of his coupon, ration for a particular period and the total bill value.
Anyone can collect ration based on the details received on mobile phone using the coupon number at any of the fair price shops within the ward/village limit and the shop owner has to dial 1613 to validate the supplies against the coupons.
Getting new ration cards easy!
Khader said that getting passports is easy when compared to ration cards and said, earlier 14 conditions had to be fulfilled which are now pruned to only four, so that getting new ration cards is easy. Instead of earlier version of BPL and APL the new version will be priority and non-priority. This method will help street dwellers and people staying in rented accommodation and make the system more inclusive. This was the main goal when late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched ration cards decades ago, he clarified.
Aaadhar number and fulfilling four conditions will suffice to get new ration cards. The new conditions are:
1. Electricity consumption should not exceed 125 units (for BPL only).
2. People staying in 800 sq.ft built-up area accommodations in cities and 1200 sq.ft in villages.
3. Private car owners using cars for personal use will be under non-priority category.
4. Government employee, IT payees and land owners owning more than 7 acres will be treated as non-priority card holders.
Healthy supplies
Emphasizing on health (Khadar was state former health minister before taking charge as F&CS) he said that double fortified salt with iodine and iron content will be supplied for the first time. It will take one more month to implement the same, because time for manufacture is required as large number of beneficiaries are involved. Rs 60 crores will be required and the State cabinet has approved the same, he clarified.
Adding further he said, rice and wheat which contain carbohydrates and pulses which contain proteins will be supplied in phases (Green gram, toor dhal, ground nut depending on season and availability)
Vigilance committees to address problems
At corporation level, vigilance committees comprising all wards will be setup headed by local corporators, whereas MLA will head taluk level committees. In rural areas, vigilance committees will be at GP level managed by elected members, where the respective MLA will address complaints at taluk level. This is being done to ensure close coordination between elected representatives and the state food department.
He felt that all measures will ensure level playing field. Fair price shop owner providing good service will earn more as the consumer is free to avail ration from any shop within a specified area.
He informed that after introducing coupons he managed to save around 600-700 liters of kerosene in one GP alone in DK and questioned the gathering to calculate the amount saved if the entire state is taken into account. The money saved will be used for other government schemes, he clarified.
The ration will be delivered at the door step of fair price shops so that they do not incur losses. He concluded by saying that certain measures which require approval will be taken up during the next State Cabinet meeting.
