Digitization a Panacea for Public Distribution System: A Review

Abstract

After independence, the Government of India has made many efforts to grab the problem of hunger and malnutrition. The public Distribution System (PDS) plays a critical role in reducing hunger by providing food security at affordable prices to the vulnerable section of society. However, the inefficiencies and corruption make the system less trustworthy. The scheme end-to-end computerization was implemented by the government as a part of measures to bring more efficiency and curb malpractices in the Public distribution system. The article reviews whether digitization was a panacea for PDS in India. A systematic review of 25 articles was conducted using the databases: Jstor, Scopus, Web of Science, peer-reviewed journals, etc. The study highlighted various benefits along with the challenges of digitization in the public distribution system in India. It was concluded that the central and state government should critically evaluate the prerequisite of digitization and should deploy digitization as an alternative policy to other structural and policy reforms.