Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / Dec 19, 2021
With a view to empowering women, the Uttar Pradesh government has started the process of allotting fair price ration shops to the women self help groups (SHGs) in the state.
The involvement of women SHGs in the public distribution system (PDS) is to ensure transparency and accessibility apart from reducing the transaction cost in UP.
This initiative of the State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) has also enhanced the status of these women in their families and their villages.
“The women run groups are effectively running the fair price shops. They collect ration from the block headquarters for distribution in their villages to the ration cardholders. They maintain all the records to ensure transparency and accountability,” a UP government official said here on Sunday.
So far, the UP government has allocated 1,850 fair price shops to the women SHG out of the total 2,420 selected for the purpose.
On an average monthly income of Rs 5,000-6,000 is being generated from the operation of these shops.
Notably, there are around 80,000 fair price shops in UP to provide free ration to the beneficiaries every month in the state.