This policy brief summarizes the reforms India introduced to streamline, digitize, and transform cooking gas subsidy from an in-kind to a cash transfer program.

The blog highlights the road ahead for the Indian government’s new program—One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC). The objective of the program is to build upon the digitization of the Public Distribution System (PDS) with a focus on beneficiary-centric reforms.

In the first blog from our new series on lessons from India for the world, we will look at the basic components of the digitized G2P ecosystem that enabled India to support beneficiaries even when the whole country was under lock down. We will follow this with detailed modules on each component.

This blog examines the factors that influence people’s food choices and thus their nutritional intake. It also highlights the need for nutrition literacy among the PDS beneficiaries.

Based on a study conducted by MSC in August, 2019 to assess the nutritional gaps in PDS households, this blog highlights the importance of incorporating local and diverse food items into the beneficiaries’ diet

This blog presents the challenges faced by India to shift the focus of its public distribution system from food security to nutrition security.

MSC’s report examines the PDS food basket and the dietary intake of beneficiary households. We also suggest ways to increase the nutritional efficiency of various government programs to improve the overall nutritional outcome.

The blog examines the role of food fortification as a measure against the prevalence of malnutrition in India. Further, it highlights the potential of providing fortified food grains through the Public Distribution System to provide micro nutrients to over 800 million beneficiaries.