The State Food and Civil Supplies department is all set to roll out a pilot project for distribution of ration among BPL card holders using iris scan. The pilot project is to be started in Ranchi district soon, the direction for which has already been given by the department.
Department Secretary Amitabh Kaushal said, “The ration distribution under public distribution system is based on Aadhar. There are two types of authentication in Aadhar, finger print and iris. Till date we have been doing only fingerprint scan but now we have received an advisory from the Government of India that we can use iris scan as well.”
Kaushal informed that the iris scan is likely to prove helpful as many a times, the fingerprint scan fails.
"With age, there is a change in fingerprint thus the machine does not read the scan. It is believed that iris scan is more efficient as the iris does not change," he said.
The district administration has already been sent a letter in this regard and it is now up to the administration to install the machines at PDS shops. “The implementing agency will be the same that helped installing E-POS machines at the PDS shops. The district supply officer is responsible for ensuring the installation of machines and training of the PDS dealers,” Kaushal said.
The iris scan system is already functional in Telangana and is successful. “We are hoping that it is successful in Ranchi too so that we can expand it to other districts as well and ensure proper ration supply to the beneficiaries,” Kaushal said.
District Supply Officer (DSO) of Ranchi Banka Ram informed that the process for implementation of the pilot project has already started. “We have prepared a list of PDS shops where the iris scan machines are to be installed in the first phase.”
He added, “The system will be beneficial for the old people whose finger prints have faded away and also the differently abled persons. Many a times we get the complaint of people not getting PDS benefits because their fingerprint scan does not match. Once the iris scan machine is installed that problem will be solved.”
A city based PDS shop owner, Sanjay Kundu informed that he gets around 10 to 15 percent of such cases were fingerprint scan does not work. “Most of these cases are of people of old age. In such cases a onetime password is sent to their registered mobile number so that ration can be given to them based after getting the OTP,” Kundu said.
He informed that OTP system can easily function in the urban areas where there is no network issue and almost everyone possesses a mobile phone. However, people in the interior areas face a huge crisis if their fingerprint scan is not accepted.
“Many people in the interior villages do not have mobile phones or even if they do the network is so bad that most of the time OTP is not delivered. In such cases, the iris scan system will prove to be beneficial,” Kundu said.