The Hindu Business Line : Encrypted data to ensure rations

Imagine this scenario. Your maid borrows Rs 50 to buy rations. The shopkeeper says there is no stock, and she goes back disappointed. That the Rs 50 is spent on something else is another story. At the end of the month, her rations remain unused, and the shopkeeper nets a handsome profit. There are hundreds of others who undergo a similar situation. You can see the shopkeeper has every incentive to postpone the purchase even when he has the stocks. A smart card would prevent that.

The shopkeeper cannot show any stock as sold unless it is linked to a plastic card swiped against the sale with the information of the ration card holder embedded in an electronic chip.

These cards are encrypted with the beneficiary’s data and hence cannot be tampered with, thereby preventing frauds which are common in booklet-based cards, said Mr Akshay Mishra, Chief Engineer, DSP Works, a Mumbai-based software company.

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