A design framework for smart ration shop using blockchain and iot technologies

Abstract

The Public Distribution System (PDS) distributes the subsidized food and non-food items to poor populations through fair price shops (FPS). The PDS has been criticized for its urban bias and its failure to serve the underprivi-leged sections of the community effectively. The Current system manual-based data management and ledger management gives rise to much corruption in the process of extricating the poor from those who are less needy. There are chances for the block market because of the current methodology of data management. This article proposes a blockchain technology-based smart ration shop system that uses immutable smart contract-based transactions to overcome the issues. The proposed mechanism will provide more transparency and enable access to all the transactions by everyone. The system utilizes IoT technology for asset track-ing while moving the food items from distribution centers to a particular ration shop, which avoids malpractice during the transportation of the goods. Voice-based and text-based user-friendly interfaces in local languages were also devel-oped to provide an effective interaction and improve the usability of the system. The performance of the proposed blockchain network is evaluated and reported.