Government to Improve Fair Price Shops in Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad
The government will conduct a pilot study to enhance the viability of 60 Fair Price Shops (FPS) in Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is leading this initiative.
Partnerships and Support
The central government is partnering with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide working capital and with B2B online wholesale aggregators for the sale of non-PDS items, focusing on nutritional products.
Additional Services
To improve FPS viability, the government has requested all State and UT Governments to implement additional services at FPSs. These include:
- Common Service Centre (CSC) services
- Banking services through tie-ups with banks and corporate banking correspondents
- Banking and citizen-centric services of India Post Payment Bank (IPPB)
- Retail sale of small LPG cylinders of 5 kg
- Sale of other commodities or general store items
Capacity Building
The government is exploring capacity-building programs or short-term skill development courses to boost the confidence of FPS owners. These courses will be developed with the help of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE).
Additional Measures
The central government has advised states and UTs to display information boards showing beneficiary rights, integrate weighing scales with electronic Point of Sales (ePoS) devices, and explore the feasibility of installing CCTV cameras at all FPSs.
The Public Distribution System (PDS) is jointly operated by the Central and State/UT Governments.
Doubts Revealed
Fair Price Shops (FPS) -: Fair Price Shops are stores where the government sells essential items like rice, wheat, and sugar at lower prices to help people who need it.
Pilot study -: A pilot study is a small test run of a project to see if it works well before doing it on a larger scale.
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution -: This is a part of the government that makes sure people get enough food and other important things at fair prices.
SIDBI -: SIDBI stands for Small Industries Development Bank of India. It helps small businesses by giving them money to grow.
Working capital -: Working capital is the money a business needs to run its daily operations, like buying goods to sell.
B2B online wholesale aggregators -: These are websites where businesses can buy large amounts of goods from other businesses at lower prices.
Non-PDS items -: Non-PDS items are things that are not part of the Public Distribution System, like snacks or cleaning products.
Banking services -: Banking services include things like opening a bank account, depositing money, or taking out a loan.
CSC services -: CSC stands for Common Service Centers. They help people in villages with things like paying bills or getting government documents.
LPG cylinders -: LPG cylinders are containers filled with cooking gas that people use to cook food at home.
Capacity-building programs -: These are training programs that help people learn new skills to do their jobs better.
Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship -: This is a part of the government that helps people learn new skills and start their own businesses.
