To bring transparency in the present public distribution system, the ration shops in Udaipur district have been digitalized. Point of Sale (POS) devices are installed at such shops to check lapses in the present system.

The handheld POS devices would be UID compliant biometric machines having smart card reader which would have stored information of the ration card holders in the area. So far, POS devices have been installed at all the 45 ration shops in Badgaon and 70 of the 120 shops in Girwa panchayat samitis, as per a national daily.

By the end of the next month, the district administration aims to complete device installation in all tehsils. In all, there are 1180 ration shops and 5.5 Lac beneficiaries covered under the food security scheme.

The machine will authentic the biometric details of a ration card holder before generating the bill. The GSM sim card based machine will send information to the central server so that there is little scope for pilferage. However, internet connection is necessary for these devices to work perfectly.

With the commencement of the new system, the head of the family wouldn’t necessarily go to the ration shops but any of the family members listed in the card could go to buy ration after verifying his or her thumb impression.