{"id":74103,"date":"2025-11-19T13:39:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T08:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=74103"},"modified":"2025-11-19T14:39:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T09:09:49","slug":"new-initiatives-to-improve-the-public-distribution-system-pds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/new-initiatives-to-improve-the-public-distribution-system-pds\/","title":{"rendered":"New Initiatives to Improve the Public Distribution System (PDS)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>New Initiatives to Improve the Public Distribution System Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union Food and Public Distribution Ministry recently launched several digital initiatives aimed at modernising warehousing operations, improving supply chain efficiency, and enhancing transparency across the Public Distribution System (PDS).<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Anna Sahayata Holistic AI Solution (ASHA)<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is an <\/span><b>AI-based platform<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that <\/span><b>allows Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to <\/span><b>share their feedback<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on ration distribution <\/span><b>through AI-enabled calls<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in their <\/span><b>preferred language.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was introduced by the <\/span><b>Department of Food and Public Distribution.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The platform runs at a cost of \u20b95 lakh.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ASHA reaches <\/span><b>20 lakh beneficiaries monthly across India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>developed in partnership with the Wadhwani Foundation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>backed by the India AI mission via Bhashini\u2019s multilingual AI infrastructure.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through ASHA,<\/span><b> beneficiaries can report whether they received their full entitlement,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the <\/span><b>quality <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of foodgrains, and <\/span><b>any difficulty faced<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at Fair Price Shops.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The system uses <\/span><b>multilingual translation, sentiment analysis, automated grievance categorisation,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><b>real-time dashboards for administrators<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>About Bhandaran 360<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the <\/span><b>Central Warehousing Corporation\u2019s new Enterprise Resource Planning platform.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implemented ahead of schedule, the system <\/span><b>integrates 41 modules covering HR, finance, marketing, warehouse management,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contract management, project monitoring, and other core functions.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also<\/span><b> linked with 35 external systems, including ICEGATE, port systems, FCI, NAFED, NCCF, and WDRA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, enabling seamless digital connectivity across the food storage and movement ecosystem.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The New System <\/span><b>Introduces<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Single Sign-On and role-based access<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to improve security and reduce manual dependency.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>End-to-end data encryption<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and audit trails.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Real-time dashboards <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">showing operations from warehouse level to corporate level.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Automated workflows with Chatbots<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and RPA to improve turnaround time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Predictive analytics<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for faster decision-making<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The upgraded platform also adds several new features such as a <\/span><b>lead and marketing management module, integrated HRMS, project planning, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SAP FICO, smart material management, biometric and geo-tagged attendance, a mobile app for measurement books, and strengthened contract monitoring.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>About Smart EXIM Warehouse System<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was introduced by the <\/span><b>Central Warehousing Corporation for container freight stations and general warehouses.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This system u<\/span><b>ses AI, IoT, FASTag,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> OCR\/ANPR, <\/span><b>GNSS, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and other technologies to automate key processes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Major Components:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Gate Automation System integrated with port and rail systems<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for auto-fetching vehicle and container details, FASTag-based entry, and automatic record generation<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Yard Management with Digital Twin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, providing <\/span><b>real-time tracking of containers <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and equipment and optimizing movement inside the yard<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Smart Inventory Management, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which <\/span><b>counts and tracks cargo in real time <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and auto-updates records with ERP-WMS integration.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>About ANNA DARPAN<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was introduced by the <\/span><b>Food Corporation of India (FCI).<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a new <\/span><b>microservices-based platform<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that<\/span><b> replaces the existing Depot Online System.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <\/span><b>connects <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">key <\/span><b>activities such as procurement, storage, movement, sales, quality checks, labour management and contract monitoring <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">under one integrated system.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It serves as a <\/span><b>single unified source <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of truth for both<\/span><b> FCI and the Department of Food and Public Distribution.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Key Features:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A mobile-first design for anytime access.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Smooth integration with internal and external systems for uniform data.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Real-time dashboards across mandis, depots, railheads, and offices.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A single, reliable information flow for faster decisions and improved transparency.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The platform is expected to significantly improve the efficiency of India\u2019s food supply chain.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/centre-launches-asha-an-ai-platform-to-gather-pds-feedback\/article70295077.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Union Food and Public Distribution Ministry recently launched several digital initiatives aimed at improving the Public Distribution System (PDS). Read more about New Initiatives to Improve the Public Distribution System (PDS), Latest News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":74149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3781,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-74103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-new-initiatives-to-improve-the-public-distribution-system","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}