ABSTRACT
India has one of the world's worst rates of malnutrition, with tales of hunger and starving fatalities coming from all throughout the country. In our country, the Public Distribution System plays a significant role and is regarded as the government's primary tool for ensuring the protection of the poor and disadvantaged. However, there are many sources of inefficiencies associated with PDS. As a solution to various issues, the government has introduced the EPOS (electronic point of sale) system and has invoked both criticism as well as appreciation from different strata of society. So this study attempts to draw light on the impact of EPOS machines from the viewpoint of beneficiaries and to analyze the level of satisfaction of beneficiaries regarding the performance of the public distribution system and to highlight the major problems associated with the performance of PDS. Thus, in this study, a serious attempt has been made to know the effectiveness of the public distribution system in the perception of consumers with special reference to the Nenmanikkara panchayath, of Thrissur district. By adopting convenient sampling, feedback was obtained from 100 cardholders. The collected data are analyzed using statistical tools and techniques such as percentages, chi-square statistics, t-tests, and one-way ANOVA. Results of the study disclose that customer satisfaction is associated with occupation, family income, accuracy in weight of goods, quality of commodities, customer relation, etc. It is necessary to enhance the number of food items distributed through ration shops and to ensure the quality of food grains sent to consumers.
Keywords: Consumer satisfaction, perception, public distribution system(PDS), food security.
Received : 01st August 2021
Accepted : 15th August 2021
Published : 25th September 2021
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