Shri Atul Kumar Gupta, Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh launched the SMS based PDS stock update scheme on 26th April 2010. Shri Rajiv Agrawal, Commissioner Food and Civil Supplies, GoUP, who is the motivational force behind the project and Shri. S.B. Singh, Dy. Director General & State Informatics Officer, NIC, UP was also present during the launch.

The project is aimed at bringing transparency in the Public Distribution System.  Ration card holders in the urban and rural areas will now get information about the availability of food grains & kerosene in fair price shops of their area through SMS on their mobile phones. The SMSs will contain information about the quota of food grains, the name of the fair price shop owner and the date of delivery. To begin with, Jalaun and Bahraich have been chosen as pilot districts under the scheme.

The SMS is triggered  the day FP shop owner lifts the food grain from the godown. About 10-15 APL, BPL and Antodaya card holders of their areas would be informed about it. If any other person wanted the SMS he/she should get his/her cell phone number registered with the Food and Civil Supplies Department and the concerning district supply officer (DSO).

The application has been developed by NIC, Jalaun and the government plans to expand it in the entire state in the next couple of months.