Online Storage Management (OSM) System

January 25, 2022

Central government is set to roll out a digital system called “Online Storage Management (OSM)” from April 1, 2022 in a bid to bring in operational efficiency in storage, movement and distribution of food grains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).

Online Storage Management System

The online storage management system would provide real time data on the volume and quality of rice and wheat stocks with Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other government agencies.
It will provide information on food grains stocks, which are held in the godowns of FCI, Central Warehousing Corporation and state warehousing corporations.
The system will track each stack of grain stocks, starting from procurement points to PDS distribution outlets.

Who is developing the system?

The OSM system is being developed by state governments in collaboration with the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD).

Significance of OSM system

OSM system will prevent any possibility of manipulation between godowns and fair price shops, by transport contractors.
It is expected to help route optimisation for distribution of grains.
It will also help in reducing the cost of food grain storage by reducing leakages in the system.

Implementing states

16 states namely, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, Punjab, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Uttarakhand have agreed to implement this system by March 15, 2022. Other states will come on board soon.

Background

The initiative of digitalisation of food grain storage follows the DFPD move to make procurement of wheat and rice from farmers by developing an online system where information regarding land-holding of the farmers are put in digital format in order to ensure that genuine farmers get benefits of Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations. Land-record based procurement of food grains is being implemented from current Kharif paddy procurement (2021-22), that started from October 1, 2021.

Development of online payment system

The food ministry is also developing an online payment system, as a reform to PDS. It will be developed for farmers covered under MSP operations across states. The system will help in tracking the payments to farmers in real time basis.

Other reforms to improve TPDS

To reform TPDS, government has initiated following measures:

Digitisation of ration cards– As of now, all the 23.5 ration cards catering to 80 crore beneficiaries under National Food Security Act have been digitised.
Aadhaar seeding of ration cards– As of now, 93% of the ration cards have been seeded.
Installation of electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) machines at Fair Price Shops (FPSs). Around 95% of 5.33 FPSes across India have ePoS machines.

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