Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Government of India, launched the Handbook for the Implementation of Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy, which has been jointly developed by the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DoFPD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), in New Delhi recently.

The handbook is a step-by-step guide for implementation of the cash transfer of food subsidy scheme and is based on India’s rules, regulations and experience in cash transfers of food subsidy, and WFP’s global experience in cash-based transfer.

C R Chaudhary, minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution and secretary, DoFPD, Ravikant and Hameed Nuru, country director, WFP, were also present during the launch.

Paswan complemented the efforts of the DoFPD and WFP for preparation of the handbook. He hoped that it will serve as a guide to all states and Union Territories (UTs) that are implementing, or planning to implement, cash transfers for food subsidy, as it details out the prerequisites, processes, and roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders involved in the cash transfer process.

He said that the implementation of cash transfer of food subsidy scheme was one of the important initiatives of this government to ensure the targeted delivery of benefits.

Paswan added this handbook will help in the easy understanding of the overall systems and the entire process flow, which would contribute greatly towards the easy adoption and success of cash transfers of food subsidy in India.

The minister also highlighted the reform measures implemented by his government to check leakages and diversions of foodgrains in the in-kind distribution of food grains, through end-to-end computerisations of public distribution system (PDS) operations.

In this regard, he specifically highlighted the installation of electronic point of sale (ePoS) devices at fair price shops for the biometric authentication of beneficiaries and electronic capturing of transactions.

Nuru said, “It is indeed in line with the vision and aspirations of the nation, that WFP is supporting the Government of India. WFP has been working with the governments at the national and state levels for the implementation of the National Food Safety Act (NFSA), and is proud to be a partner of the government in its efforts towards food security and achieving of the second set of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 2) goals.”

Currently, cash transfer of food subsidy is being implemented in the UTs of Chandigarh, Puducherry and the urban areas of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, while some more states have shown interest in implementation.