Centre inks pact with CSC to help fair price shops increase income

New Delhi, Sep 21 In a move to increase the business opportunities and income of fair price shops (FPS), the Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs on Monday entered into a model MoU with the CSC e-Governance Services India Limited (CSC) that will allow the delivery of CSC services through the interested dealers.

According to an official communique, for enabling FPS to work as a CSC service centre, the CSC has been advised to identify feasible activities like utility bill payments, PAN application, passport application, Election Commission services etc. to facilitate the consumers, and simultaneously provide additional income to the FPS.

"The CSC will tie up with individual state governments for signing up of bilateral MoUs for providing interested FPS dealers access to the Digital Seva Portal (DSP) for the delivery of CSC services. The CSC has committed to undertake sharing of technical know-how and capacity building," it added.

The Department of Food and Public Distribution ensures food security for the country through timely and efficient procurement and distribution of food grains.

In addition, to improve ease and convenience of the consumers, ration card services provided by states/UTs such as application for new cards, updating the existing ration card, Aadhaar seeding request, status check of ration availability and grievance registration may be explored by the states through CSCs as an additional option, the statement said, adding, "This is at the discretion of the state government which will ensure due diligence regarding data safety, adherence to statutory provisions and other relevant guidelines."

The MoU was signed by Jyotsna Gupta, Deputy Secretary, DFPD, and Sarthik Sachdeva, Vice President, CSC.