The Centre today said 25 states and union territories have so far rolled out the ambitious food law and is making efforts to ensure remaining 11 states also implement the Act at the earliest.
At present, over 11 crore households consisting of 53 crore beneficiaries are being allocated highly subsidised foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) at Rs 2 per kg wheat and Rs 3 per kg rice, it said.
Computerisation and use of technological device at ration shops to authenticate beneficiaries has helped delete 61.43 lakh bogus, duplicate or ineligible ration cards in last two years, thus stopping diversion and misuse of foodgrains in the PDS system amounting to about Rs 4,200 crore, it added.
"Now, 25 states/UTs have started implementing NFSA. The government is making all efforts to ensure that remaining states also start implementing the Act at earliest," the Food Ministry said in a statement.
The NFSA came into force in July 2013. In the first ten months, 11 states/UTs had started implementation covering about 7 crore households, while 14 more states rolled out NFSA in the last six months, the ministry said.
"Implementation in some of the states was started hurriedly without completing all the requisite preparations. Consequently problems were faced. Uttarakhand had to roll back the implementation and Bihar also faced initial problems in distribution," it added.
Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar, Gujarat, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh are among 11 states which are yet to implement the Act.
In the statement, the Centre said 17 states/UTs gain in terms of quantity of foodgrains allocation under the food law compared to previous PDS system. However, a provision has been made for remaining states to protect their average annual offtake of foodgrains.
For successful implementation of the Act, the government said stress is being laid on end-to-end computerisation for which states are being technically and financially assisted.
The beneficiary database has been digitised in 33 states/ UTs, wherein, information is available right up to beneficiary level and is in the public domain.
Online allocation of foodgrains in being done in 17 states /UTs, and the entire foodgrain supply chain has been computerised in nine states/UTs. All States have set up grievance redressal systems, it added.
To ensure leakage-free distribution of foodgrains, food subsidy is being tranferred in cash into the bank account of beneficiaries in Chandigarh and Puducherry on a pilot basis.
That apart, a fair price shops are being automated for distribution of foodgrains through a point of sale (PoS) device which authenticates beneficiaries at the time of distribution and also electronically captures the quantum of foodgrains distributed to the family. At present PoS devices are operational in about 59,500 shops, it added.
Some items like the Arabic Mezze platter, deserts like
Rasmalai have been a constant because the customers have asked for them, says Chef Batra.
Another unique strategy adopted to keep customers happy has been changing the menu in accordance with different festivals or even specific menus for specific region.
The recent menu for the premium economy offered ethnic Bengali food to commemorate daily flights between Delhi and Kolkata.
It included regional delicacies such as Kolkata fish fry with Bengali style chicken chop with potato wedges besides Radhaballavi, a Bengali specialty of lentil stuffed fried bread served with dry spicy potato curry and beetroot cutlet with desserts like Chanar Payesh, cottage cheese dumplings in flavoured milk.
The next custom menu for the upcoming Eid, from July 6 to 7, and will offer dishes like mutton biryani, kebabs and more.
"Customer feedback has also influenced the way food has been served on the airlines. The use of plastic cutlery was reduced to minimum with biodegradable materials being implemented," says Pathak.
To keep in mind logistics of serving meals smoothly on flights a compact biodegradable box with separate panels for hot and cold food was proposed by the airlines.
"A 'step-down' box for the economy class, like a 'gift box' will be presented as a whole to the passenger. It is designed to be simple for both the passenger and the crew," said Gladys Chia the general manager of cabin services, Vistara.
"The design allows the crew to focus on the customer and not the tray where they would have to arrange the food. The design and details adds to the service we give to the customers," she says.
