After deliberations internally and with the Union government for months, the Tamil Nadu government has taken another step towards end-to-end computerisation of the public distribution system (PDS) by floating bids to select a system integrator.
The firm chosen will have to implement a computerisation project. It has to design, commission and operate and maintain a solution, besides managing it for five years. The database for the system will be the National Population Register (NPR) or the census data. This means that the database of the existing ration cards will not be considered. At present, the total number of ration cards is about 1.98 crore.
The project includes software development, hardware components, printing and delivery of cards, service at fair price shops, helpdesk service and training of officials.
Early this week, the State government approved the implementation of the project, estimated to cost Rs. 318.4 crore. The idea is to carry out the project together with the financial assistance of the Central government.
In August last year, the Centre informed the State that initially, Rs. 39.4 crore would be set apart for Tamil Nadu, of which the Union government would give about Rs. 19.7 crore. It even permitted the State to draw around Rs. 11.83 crore out of its allocation.
By implementing the computerisation project, the authorities hope to address effectively the problem of bogus cards.
An official said the selection of the system integrator is likely to be over in a couple of months. Using the Census data and the data of biometric enumeration under the NPR, the firm to be chosen can go ahead with the implementation of the project.
As on September 1, about 4.95 crore, accounting 73.4 per cent of the eligible population of 6.74 crore (aged over five years), were covered under bio-metric enrolment of the NPR exercise. Of them, 4.67 crore had been assigned Aadhaar numbers.
Last week, the State government held a meeting with top officials of the Census department to work out ways for updating the NPR database because inclusion or exclusion of names of PDS beneficiaries will be a continuous exercise. The Registrar General of Census has assured the government that his department would cooperate with the authorities in this regard, the official added.
