The government has identified nearly 2.5 lakh fair price shops (FPS) or ration shops to upgrade them as one-stop shops for providing different facilities including for e-Services such as for paying utility bills and submittingPANapplication. So far 39,000 such shops have been on-boarded as Common Service Centres (CSCs).
Officials said this move is set to have a huge impact considering that thousands of beneficiaries visit these shops and they can play a key role in taking e-services to the doorstep of the poor.
According to the food ministry, around 10,000 ration shops inMaharashtrahave got the ISO certification and Nadu is also working towards adopting a similar model of certification of the ration shops in the state.
Meanwhile, the Centre has urged all the states and UTs to identify and develop 75 model ration shops in each district and share the list with the food ministry.
There are a total of over five lakh ration shops across the country and nearly 80 crore identified beneficiaries get subsidised foodgrain under theNational Food Security Actfrom these outlets. The government has also been distributing free foodgrain under the PMGarib KalyanAnn Yojna through these ration shops.