Plugging PDS Pilferage: A Study of an SMS-based Monitoring Project.

The targeted public distribution system is fraught with leakages. With the Food Security Act in place now, policymakers face a greater challenge in curtailing leakages and improving delivery on a much larger scale. This article studies a project in Uttar Pradesh which uses mobile phone SMS to monitor PDS supplies and finds an enthusiastic response from the users, even if the project itself has not worked well.