Discuss the role of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and suggest necessary reforms in the functioning of FCI to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness.

Food Corporation of India is a statutory body, that is responsible for the implementation of National Public Distribution Scheme, largest public stockholding programme in the world. Role of FCI: => Dual role in the PDS Network. 1) Procurement from the farmers and APMC markets => FCI procures the grains from the farmers at the minimum support price. 2) Maintenance of buffer stocks in FCI godowns => handles the trans-port and stocking of grains. 3) Procurement of grains from the FCI godowns to the state government controlled ration shops at the issue price. 4) FCI also handles the open market sale scheme OMSS for excess grains.

Government controlled ration shops at the issue price. 4) FCI also handles the open market sale scheme OMSS for excess grains. Challenge of FCI in PDS System: 1) Opaqueness in procurement process. 2) Lack of demand-supply equilibrium management in procurement process. Eg: nearly 1000 crore grains are wasted in FCI godowns. 3) Poor upkeep and maintenance of FCI godowns. 4) Heavy off-budget borrowing => resulted FCI. 5) Poor staff efficiency => corruption laages etc.