Hanoi (VNA) – A rice dispensing machine or ‘rice ATM’ will soon be set upin a slum in Bengaluru – the capital city of India’s southern Karnataka state -to support local poor people.
Theinitiative is part of the Indian Government’s project ‘Annapurti’ that is beingimplemented in a partnership with the United Nations’ World Food Programme(WFP).
Theautomatic grain dispensers are scheduled to be set up in five Indian states,namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
TheWFP has been closely working with the Indian Government to bring reforms in theTargeted Public Distribution System (PDS).
Karnatakastate’s Minister for Food and Civil Supplies K. Gopalaiah was quoted by localmedia as saying that the scheme will begin as soon as the proposal is passed.
Thedispensing machines, reportedly, can dispense two commodities weighing 25kgseach per minute, further ensuring that everyone will get their share of grains.Depending on the demand a machine capacitating 100-500 kgs of grains will beinstalled.
“Weare looking to set up this machine in the locality where low-income labourersreside. They won’t have to queue outside the ration shops, missing the day’swork; since the machine will be operating 24x7,” said the minister.
Gopalaiahalso revealed that smart cards will be issued, along with the application of abiometric system on the machine to ensure everyone gets a fair share.
Themodel of “rice ATM” was previously initiated in Vietnam, which has been hailedby the international media and applied in several countries./.
VNA