Network governance, food security, and public service delivery: Functioning of Chhattisgarh's Centralized Online Real‐time Electronic Public Distribution System (CORE‐PDS)

Abstract

The second goal of the United Nations Development Programme's Sustainable Development Goals emphasizes food security, which is no hunger by 2030. India has a significant role to play in achieving this goal, as nearly 200 million of its inhabitants live in hunger. This accounts for almost a quarter of global hunger. The public distribution system (PDS) is the policy initiative by the Government of India to provide food security to needy citizens. The scheme is considered one of the world's largest food security programs. The 2013 National Food Security Act covers 75% and 50% of the rural and urban population, respectively, and provides 35 kg of grain for each needy family. Despite these efforts, India still faces food insecurity. There are certain exclusion and inclusion errors in the implementation of the PDS. Each state (federal unit) in India has followed its implementation strategy by leveraging Information and Communication Technologies with differing levels of success. Many studies found that Chhattisgarh, a state in the Hindi belt of the country, is implementing the scheme effectively through centralized online real‐time electronic PDS (CORE‐PDS). The present article uses network governance as a theoretical framework to understand the success story of Chhattisgarh's CORE‐PDS and to identify its key success factors by analyzing the role of state and nonstate actors in the implementation of the PDS. The network governance approach is emerging as a crucial theoretical framework in the governance and public policy fields for identifying the challenges and problems in the policy domain and building networks among state actors, markets, civil society, and citizens.