By IANS
Jaipur : In an effort to make the public distribution system (PDS) more efficient, the Rajasthan government will introduce smart cards for the consumers.
In the initial phase of the project, simputers or hand-held computers would be installed in Jhalrapatan, Jaipur and Tonk area.
“The civil supplies department has issued these hand-held computers to over half a dozen ration dealers to test the viability of the system,” officials in civil supplies department told IANS here Monday.
Special training in operating these simputers is being given to ration dealers in the state.
The computers would keep updated consumer information and provide online information of all stocks available in a particular PDS outlet.
Under the new system, every ration shop would have a hand-held computer, a printer and billing machine.
Many ration shop owners, however, are opposing the move.
“The capacity of these computers is of 20 consumers. If more than 20 consumers come to a shop, it would cause trouble to rations dealers,” a ration shop owner said.
A smart card has a computer chip and enables its holder to purchase goods or avail of services, or perform other operations using data stored on the chip.