New Delhi, India – The Government of Uttarakhand announced that through its collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) in India, the hill state has become the first in the country to optimise supply chain of its Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) that reaches more than ten million citizens every month with timely availability of grains and savings for the state exchequer.
The collaboration, supported by Ericsson India Global Services Pvt. Limited and WFP Trust for India, has played a key role in furthering the TPDS reforms in the state.
Uttarakhand has also become the first state in the country to deploy a mobile storage unit (MSU), with a 500 Metric Ton capacity for the storage of grains in Haridwar. During the recent Kumbh Mela, the MSU enabled the state’s Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs to provide an uninterrupted supply of food grains. A mobile application “Jan Aapurti Uttarakhand” was also developed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic for citizens to order essential commodities from the retailers in their neighbourhood.
“The collaboration has successfully demonstrated solutions that are relevant to the unique challenges of Uttarakhand. The State Government is committed to ensuring food security for its citizens and to scaling up the interventions developed under this partnership.” says Rekha Arya, Minister of Food, Civil Supplies & and Consumer Affairs, Women Empowerment and Child Development, and Sports & Youth Welfare, Government of Uttarakhand.
“This collaboration, supported by Ericsson India Global Services, has seen many firsts for India. From the use of operations research for improving TPDS efficiency to deployment of improved storage solutions for food grains. Continuing with these innovative reforms, we have also now deployed an automated grain dispensing machine, Annapurti, in Dehradun. We are confident that these interventions will be successfully scaled up by the Government of Uttarakhand.” says Eric Kenefick, deputy country director of WFP in India.
“The project brings together innovation, automation, and impact-at-scale to strengthen the existing food safety nets, thus directly benefitting millions. It also demonstrates partnership between development organisation, government, and private sector to strengthen food security. The success of this program, we hope, can serve as an inspiration for other such public private collaborations.” says Rajesh Gupta, director – Ericsson India Global Services Pvt. Ltd.
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