Soon, every PDS rice bag to come with virtual name tag in Karnataka

To prevent diversion and illegal sale of food grains meant for the Public Distribution System, the Food & Civil Supplies Department is mulling installation of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips in all bags of rice and other rations.

With this, the department hopes to track the movement of food grains across the state.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 8 crore to Rs 9 crore annually and the department is awaiting nod from the Finance Department to launch the initiative that is a first-of-its-kind in the country.

Officials feel installing RFIDs will help them in litigations as the devices will serve as evidence when grains diverted from the PDS are seized.

Read | Hoarded rice, ragi seized from black market in Bengaluru

According to Kapil Mohan, additional chief secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department, every bag of grains will have an RFID chip which would cost around Re 1 or Rs 2. These RFIDs will be detected by scanners during inspections or raids.

“Earlier, even if we seized PDS rice, the accused would contend in court that they were farmers and the rice was grown by them. Thus, they would evade prosecution. However, the RFID chips will serve as evidence for the pilferage,” he said.

These chips will help the department to track the amount of grains that are being diverted.

Mohan said that the project was inexpensive, considering that grains worth around Rs 8,000 crore were being supplied in the state every year.

“We can trace and track the movement of food grains across geographic locations by using RFID, which will give us legal and technical basis for any litigation and also for better logistics management,” Mohan added.

Supply of grains continues to be affected by diversion in the black market with the department lodging several cases against black marketeers over the years.

According to reports, 470 cases were registered in 2021-22, over diversion of food grains exceeding 50,000 quintals.