Public Distribution System Reforms and Consumption in Chhattisgarh: An Empirical Analysis

Is more inclusive more effective? The ‘New Style’ public distribution system in India

“…Like ours, these studies also find a positive impact of increase in PDS subsidy on calorie intake and diet quality (Kaul, 2014;Krishnamurthy et al, 2014). Kaul (2014) estimates that an increase in the value of the PDS subsidy by 1% increases caloric intake by 0.144%, while an increase of 1% in income (expenditure) is associated with an increase of 0.4% in caloric intake.…”

Food Price Subsidies and Nutrition: Evidence from State Reforms to India’s Public Distribution System

“…Because PDS food grains are generally viewed as inferior goods (Rao 2000;Majumder 2001), households without a BPL ration card only turn to PDS grains during times of economic distress when market prices increase. Consistent with this explanation, PDS consumption rose across the entire country following the global food price crisis and the global financial crisis (Krishnamurthy, Pathania, and Tandon 2014).…”

“…However, following the PDS reforms, the percentage of households consuming PDS rice in Chhattisgarh nearly doubled from 10 percent to 19 percent, and the average amount consumed increased by over 400 percent. In contrast, PDS consumption in neighboring districts was essentially unchanged on average during this period (Krishnamurthy, Pathania, and Tandon 2014).…”

“…In an earlier article (Krishnamurthy, Pathania, and Tandon 2014) published in a widely circulated news weekly, we presented a series of stylized facts that were intended to inform the policy debate over the PDS in India. Chhattisgarh has been lauded as an example of successful PDS reform, and most observers attribute its perceived success in improving the PDS to initiatives taken by the Raman Singh government after 2004 (Puri 2012).…”

Universal food security program and nutritional intake: Evidence from the hunger prone KBK districts in Odisha

“…Difference-in-Difference (DID) approach has been a standard method in the literature to investigate the impact of PDS on nutrient intake (Kishore and Chakrabarti, 2015, Krishnamurthy et al, 2014a, Krishnamurthy et al, 2014b). It is a useful tool to establish causal effect of an intervention when there is a baseline and follow-up information in the form of repeated cross-section (Khandker et al, 2009, Imbens and Wooldridge, 2009).…”