Performance of Targeted Public Distribution System in Kerala

T Jayan ()
Additional contact information
T Jayan: Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi

No 358, IEG Working Papers from Institute of Economic Growth

Abstract: Targeted Public Distribution System was introduced in the country following the failure of the Universal PDS to serve below the poverty line and poorest of the poor households.It is being implemented in the country through a three-tier structure which consists of Antyodaya, BPL (Below Poverty Line) and APL (Above Poverty Line) households. The present study enquires the extent to which the food grains and the ration subsidy reached the rural and urban households under the PDS and how many households moved out of official poverty line expenditure due to ration income in the State of Kerala. Around 10 percent of rural poor households moved out of official poverty line due to income transfer from Public Distribution System in 2004-05. And the corresponding figure among the urban poor households was around 12 percent. Around 43 percent of rural poor and 42 percent of urban poor in the state moved out of the poverty line expenditure in 2009-10 due to income subsidy obtained from Public Distribution System. It is understood that around half of the subsidised food grains to be distributed to BPL-AAY (Antyodaya Anna Yojana) beneficiaries are diverted without showing any sign of improvement from 2004-05 to 2009-10. The analysis of NSSO data on Public Distribution System in 2004-05 and 2009-10 proves that the PDS subsidy is not well targeted to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society. The major share of PDS subsidy reached the above poverty line classes of expenditure in rural and urban areas. Even the half of BPL or AAY subsidy reached the above poerty line classes of expenditure. However, the per capita distribution of income subsidy from PDS declined along with higher monthly consumption expenditure classes.

Keywords: Public distribution; Kerala; poverty; targeting; income transfer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I38 O2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published as Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, 2015, pages 1-39

Downloads: (external link)
https://iegindia.org/upload/publication/Workpap/wp358.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:awe:wpaper:358

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IEG Working Papers from Institute of Economic Growth
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().