Public Distribution System
The Public Distribution System (PDS) is a safety net ensuring availability and accessibility of basic commodities i.e., wheat, rice, sugar, and kerosene, to the poor, at affordable prescribed prices through Fair Price Shops (FPS's).
Under the scheme, every poor household is a given a ration card. Categories of households - below the poverty line (BPL) and above the poverty line (APL) – are entitled to an established amount of subsidized rice, flour, sugar and kerosene.
Food Insecurity in Koraput
Food insecurity is a major concern for the rural poor. Especially in recent years, poor harvests and increasing prices have caused thousands of families to have to go hungry. During the lean season, there are four months of food stress. To combat this, the villagers are often forced to borrow money from private lenders with high interest, migrate to urban places or suffer semi-starvation condition vulnerable to diseases related to severe malnutrition. Women and children are worst sufferers.
SPREAD's Activities
- Villages are taught how to self-monitor PDS and other government food schemes.
- Community managed grain banks allow villagers to store excess grain during harvest season and take loans during the lean season.
- Women self-help groups contribute to savings accounts that are used in times of emergency and for income generation projects.
- SPREAD staff and community leaders attend regional and national meetings to advocate for rights and better understand best practices.
- Many informal and formal trainings and workshops are organized for the community members, to increase awareness of their rights and the options available to them for availing those rights.
- Vocational training provides income potential that is independent of agriculture.
- Organic cultivation techniques increase crop yields.
- SPREAD staff help illiterate villagers to fill out the appropriate forms to get new or replaced PDS ration cards and new pension cards.
