Current Affairs 2022 : Features of Online Storage Management in India

By Tanieya Kumari

Online Storage Management (OSM) is scheduled to be rolled out on April 1, 2022. Check here the details of OSM and its unique features.

Digitization in business has proven to be a quintessential element for success nowadays. We all are aware of how digitization in business helps improve efficiency with fewer chances of human error thereby reducing operational costs. The government, with its Digital India Programme initiative, has also accentuated how digitization and computerization are the major elements of growth and that it helps the public apparatus to efficiently and universally broaden the reach of different government initiatives. The Department of Food and Public Distribution tries to leverage the benefits of automation in its numerous endeavours, particularly in accordance with the principle that “every ounce of food grains saved through scientific storage techniques should be considered as grain produced.” In the press release issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on 21st January 2022, the government has mentioned all the key features of the OSM to be rolled out on April 1, 2022, along with the participating states.

Online Storage Management

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, in collaboration with its major agency, FCI, has developed a roadmap to roll out Online Storage Management (OSM) in the country. Through the integration of state portals with the national portal, the OSM envisions establishing a single source of information for the food grains held in the country for the central pool. The OSM method will eliminate the potential of transport contractors manipulating the relationship between godowns and fair pricing stores. It is intended to aid in grain distribution route optimization. It will also assist to reduce the cost of food grain storage by eliminating system leakages.

Across the DCP States, the OSM will create an ecosystem of storage management apps, each of which will be capable of meeting the Minimum Storage Specifications. Under the DCP system, the State Government/its agencies acquire, store, and distribute rice/wheat/coarse grains within the state (against the Government of India's allotment for TPDS & OWS, etc.). Excess stocks (rice and wheat) obtained by the State/its agencies are transferred to FCI in the Central Pool. These MSSs (Minimum Storage Specifications), which were identified through intensive and detailed discussions with the concerned States and FCI, are the ability to compute storage capacity, depict storage point-wise (copied) This would also aid in distribution route optimisation.

FCI presented a presentation on the initiative's success during a meeting held on January 21st, 22nd, under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Food), Govt. of India, and attended by Food Secretaries from all DCP States. During the presentation, it was stressed that the states must create their portals collaboratively for best practices to be absorbed and distributed around the states. The online storage management system will provide real-time information about the number and quality of rice and wheat inventories with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and other government entities. It will offer information on food grain supplies kept in FCI, Central Warehousing Corporation, and state warehousing corporations' godowns. From procurement locations to PDS distribution outlets, the system will track each stack of grain inventories.

The sixteen (16) states (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, and West Bengal) reaffirmed their commitment to develop/implement storage management applications with MSSs and integrate them with the central portal during the meeting.

The OSM project, which is slated to be finished by March 22, will increase efficiency and transparency in food grain stocking, storage, movement, and distribution. It will aid in lowering food storage and distribution costs by detecting leaks throughout the process. The Online Storage Management System will also provide the government with easily available information for both monitoring and quick decision making to benefit stakeholders, particularly PDS consumers whose wellbeing is the government's top concern.

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