A smart card is a
security token that has an embedded chip. Mostly in plastic, they connect to a
reader either by direct physical contact (also known as chip and dip) or
through a short-range wireless connectivity standard such as Near Field
Communication (NFC). Mostly all chip
cards are built from layers of differing materials, or substrates, that when
brought together properly gives the card a specific life and functionality. The
typical card today is made from PVC, Polyester or Polycarbonate.
During the World
War II India faced acute food shortages and to meet the exigencies a separate
Food Department was established on 1st Dec 1942 under the Commerce Member of the
Governor General’s Council. The Food Department was re-designated as Ministry
of Food immediately after Independence. 1947.
As per available records, the Directorate of Sugar and Vanaspati was part of
Food Ministry in 1947.
The Tamil Nadu
Civil Supplies Corporation (colloq. Ration shop) is governed by Government of
Tamil Nadu was established in the year 1956. It is responsible for providing
food grains, commodities for the people under Public Distribution System
through Ration shops. It also provides kerosene at very low cost besides
providing rice, wheat, rava, sugar, cooking oil, even soaps. Public Distribution System (PDS) is a food
security system, established by the
Government of India under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public
Distribution and managed jointly with state governments in India. A ration card holder should be given 35 kg of
food grain as per the norms of PDS.
~ and the news is
PDS will happen through smart cards from now on. In Tamil Nadu, the first batch of smart cards
in lieu of existing ration cards are
being issued. Using this electronic card,
the card holder can get his/her grocery
items from the Fair Price Shop's (FPS).The main reason for using this swipe
card and making this process computerized is to remove the drawbacks of the
present way of issuing products based on ration card. The main drawback in the
current system is that the PDS has been criticised for its urban bias and its
failure to serve the poorer sections of the population effectively.
The targeted PDS is
costly and gives rise to much corruption in the process of extricating the poor
from those who are less needy. Also many retail shopkeepers have large number
of bogus cards to sell food grains in the open market. Many FPS dealers resort
to malpractice by diverting the farm produce procured by the FPS's to the
open market.
Ration cards in
Tamil Nadu are all set to go fully digital with Chief Minister Mr Edappadi K Palaniswami launching a smart family card
scheme to replace 1.89 crore cards in the state at a cost of Rs 330 crore. "Completion
of distribution of smart cards has been planned to be done by May across the
State," Palaniswami said after distributing the new cards to beneficiaries
at a function here marking the launch of the scheme.
The smart card is
modified as smart ration card by coding the microprocessor chip present in it
according to the requirements. Each smart ration card contains unique barcode.
We need to collect the data from all the valid ration card holders and estimate
the total number of smart ration cards to be created. The data includes details
like no of members in family, names of the members, head of the family,
permanent address, present living address, phone number, aadhar and more. The database will contain two different categories i.e. one for the card
holder information and the other one to store the details of the
items(products) that are being distributed.
Consumers can
continue to buy commodities at PDS outlets by using their existing ration cards
till such time they received the smart cards, it is stated. Card holders can get the Smart cards at their
respective PDS outlets after getting an SMS from the authorities, he said,
adding a new data base has been created by getting the Aadhaar card details of
ration card holders. According to the Press release, of the 6.90 crore members in ration cards, Aadhar
details of about 5.85 crore persons have been collated. TN CM added that Rs 5,500 crore is being
allocated annually for the Food department as subsidy.
Have you turned
smart already ?
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
13th May 2017.
