A Study On Consumer Satisfaction Towards Public Distribution System

Abstract

Poverty is a problem which is faced by the people. The government has taken more steps and programme to overcome the problem. Public distribution system was established to provide food at a subsidized rate. So the researcher has attempted to study the satisfaction and the perception of the consumer towards public distribution system. The study also reveals some suggestion to the government for the betterment of their working of the public distribution system. Public Distribution System (PDS) is a poverty alleviation programme and contributes towards the social welfare of the people. PDS is considered as principal instrument in the hands of State Governments for providing safety net to the poor against the spiraling rise in prices of essential commodities. Customer's intensity of purchase at fair price shops depends on the quality of services extended at fair price shops. It was found in this study that problems like leakages, poor quality, under weighment, non-availability of controlled as well as non-controlled articles during certain times, non-availability of ration cards, bogus cards, etc., affect the efficiency of the system. Hence, the channel of distribution needs to be promoted. Ensuring the availability of essential articles as per allotment as and when required by the cardholders,ju increased margin to cooperatives, and better salary to employees, reduction in the number of cards to be handled by a FPS, maintaining and updating the Notice Boards at every FPS, formation of vigilance committees at every FPS level and providing more role to women SHGs are the viable options put by the sample respondents to strengthen the PDS, which cannot be ignored. Further the continuance of Universal System will help to provide safety net to the poor against spiraling market prices of essential commodities. Though primarily employee of the PDS retail outlet should be made responsible for eradicating the problem of bogus cards, effective coordination between local bodies, revenue authorities and lead and link societies will alone be able to eradicate this problem. The purpose of setting-up Public Distribution System will be nullified, unless real beneficiaries have not utilized the products offered at fair price shops optimally. Unless, customers are satisfied with regard to services offered at fair price shops, they may not make use of service of fair price shops to a maximum extent. Thus, in this study a serious attempt has been made to identify the factor that enhances customer's satisfaction by adopting convenient sampling, feedback obtained from 150 card holders and analyzing them through tests. Given widespread malpractices in Public Distribution System, several papers have been written discussing the feasibility of PDS, its market distorting mechanisms and alternatives to PDS. My paper wishes to deviate from the above and instead focus on the implementation of PDS at the state level. It focuses on the last mile delivery i.e. the process by which subsidised grains makes its way to the beneficiaries via the various Fair Price shops (FPS) and the challenges encountered in the process.This paper focuses on the implementation of PDS in Delhi. The major findings v of the paper are: (1)Besides the broad categories of Above Poverty Line (APL), Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), in Delhi the APL category is further subdivided in two tiers. (2)Obtaining a new ration card does not mean eligibility for drawing rations. (3) New ration cards are being issued despite minimal role played by them in drawing ration. This spills over several unintended inefficiencies to other schemes. Fourth, there are massive leakages in the system, which reduce the effectiveness of PDS. It is primarily because of lack of incentives with FPS keeper and low economic viability of the FPSs. Fifth, level of diversion faced by different groups differ. BPL and AAY card holders get most of their entitlement whereas a wide variation in entitlement can be observed for APL general stamped card holders. Sixth, vigilance mechanism is weak. There is possibility of a nexus between local politicians and FPS keepers which renders the vigilance mechanism ineffective. Seventh, despite widespread problems people choose PDS over cash transfers. This preference reflects that corrective measures are needed instead of completely scrapping the scheme and replacing it with other schemes. Lastly, current policy reforms are discussed and further recommendations are suggested.