Rajasthan state has become the third city in the country to have to have supplied the highest number point of sale (PoS) machines to such shops. Not only this, Rajasthan is also one of the pioneering states to have completely automated its fair price shops (FPS).
FPS automation encompasses installing PoS devices for authentication of beneficiaries, recording sales and uploading transaction data to the central server.
The department of food and public distribution has pressed into service 25,721 PoS machines in rural areas. The count is next to Tamil Nadu which has 34,769 machines operational and Andhra Pradesh with 29,082 machines.
The state has deployed biometric scanners to scan the thumb impression of the card holder for providing ration to due beneficiaries. According to sources, out of the 25,725 fair price shops in Rajasthan, 24,653 of them have PoS machines.
The movement of demonetisation has necessitated the need for cashless payments. The state of Rajasthan being highly proactive had contemplated the pressing need to swap cash payments to digital payments quite earlier than other states. It has hence become a leading example for all other states which are still trying to endure the digital mechanism for daily transactions.
All PoS machines have been installed in the FPS with the major impetus on curbing the serious meance of corruption and also mitigate nuances of liquidity crunch in the whole country, post the mega cash-clean up decision.
In order to render financial assistance for automation, the government has also approved FPS dealers’ margins at Rs 87 per quintal under the National Food Security Act. This margin also includes reimbursement of Rs 17 per quintal for their expenditure towards purchase, operation and maintenance of PoS machines. The expenses are shared between the Centre and state on a 75:25 ratio for special category states and Union Territories. For the general category state, however, it’s on a 50:50 ratio.
According to the data provided by the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, there were 1,76,919 PoS machines operational in the country as on December 15, 2016.
Rajasthan Government has persistently aligned it’s goals and plans with that of the Centre, thereby rendering supreme coordination and seamless operations. From the PM’s vision of a ‘Digital India’, ‘Cashless India’ to the ‘Swachh Bharat mission’, Rajasthan has put it’s best foot forward to manifest the centre’s vision collaboratively.
