Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi inaugurated three digital initiatives—Depot Darpan Portal, Anna Mitra, and Anna Sahayata—aimed at enhancing India’s Public Distribution System (PDS). These platforms are designed to improve transparency, efficiency, and service delivery for more than 810 million beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act.
Depot Darpan enables self-assessment and monitoring of food grain depots, optimizing space utilization and process efficiency. It is expected to generate savings of ₹275 crore for Food Corporation of India (FCI) warehouses and ₹140 crore for those operated by the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC). Investments of ₹1,000 crore for FCI and ₹280 crore for CWC have been allocated for infrastructure upgrades.
Anna Mitra is a mobile app that provides real-time access to operational data for Fair Price Shop dealers, food inspectors, and district officers. It enables stock tracking, sales reports, and geo-tagged inspections to boost accountability.
Anna Sahayata serves as an advanced grievance redressal platform for PMGKAY beneficiaries, leveraging WhatsApp, IVRS, and Automatic Speech Recognition to simplify complaint filing. It is being rolled out in five states, with plans for nationwide expansion.
The government emphasizes these digital tools as part of its vision for a modernized and citizen-centric PDS system, ensuring efficient food distribution and seamless access to essential supplies.
