A comparative study of customers' perceptions towards managerial practices of pds in Chhattisgarh and Mizoram Lalropuii*, Kumar NVR Jyoti** *Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, India. Email id: asenirvt@gmail.com **Department of Commerce, Dean, School of Economics, Management and Information Science, Mizoram University, Aizawl, Mizoram, India, Email id: nvrjyoti@rediffmail.com Online published on 10 October, 2018. Abstract The central and state governments in India share the responsibility of regulating the Public Distribution System (PDS). The central government is responsible for procurement, storage, transportation and bulk allocation of food grains; state governments hold the responsibility for distributing the same to the consumers through the established network of fair Price Shops (FPSs). State governments are also responsible for operational responsibilities including allocation and identification of families Below Poverty Line (BPL), issue of ration cards, and supervision and monitoring the functioning of FPSs. This paper studies the customer perceptions in respect of certain managerial practices of PDS in two select states of Chhattisgarh and Mizoram. For this purpose, 300 respondents were surveyed from both the states. About 40% of the respondents in Mizoram and nearly 45% of the respondents in Chhattisgarh believed that their govt. had been issuing excess ration cards. Nearly 55% of the respondents in Mizoram and nearly 65% of the respondents in Chhattisgarh have felt that there is no proper monitoring (inspection) of their own FPS. Both the state governments need to relook into the criteria set for identifying the entitled beneficiaries under PDS and focus more on the regular inspection of FPSs to make PDS more dependable for the vulnerable sections of the society. Top Keywords Below Poverty Line, Customer Perceptions, Fair Price Shop, Public Distribution System. Top |