Formulating Public Policy for Distribution of Essential Goods: An Analytical Approach

Public Policy concerning distribution of essential goods of mass consumption has assumed critical importance in several developing countries. In India, such policies have generally been reactive, in response to exigencies of critical situations such as shortages, price rise or deterioration in quality of essential goods. This paper presents a comprehensive, detailed, explicit and et simple approach for formulating a consistent and potentially effective public distribution policy. A systematic model of distribution policy is presented in which starting from the consumption needs of society, the mix of policy instruments (both structural and non-structural) likely to achieve the policy objectives most effectively can be derived. The model outlines relationships between consumption needs, elements of the distribution systems, commodities and their characteristics, policy instruments, and policy objectives. The approach begins with analysis of consumption, production and product characteristics of relevant commodities on the one hand and identification of possible policy instrument on the other. An analysis of characteristics of commodities enables one to examine the relevant of various policy objectives for these commodities. By matching policy instruments with policy objectives, degree of effectiveness of policy instruments for given objectives is established. By this analysis, it becomes feasible to derive the potentially effective mix of instruments for each commodity. The approach also helps in identifying needs for modifying instruments and/or commodity characteristics for achieving policy objectives. The approach was tested on six policymakers belonging to different ministries of the Government of India and its agencies, using commodities like wheat, pulses, edible oil and soap. The approach could be used by policy makers without difficulty, it was found to be more useful with commodities like pulses and soaps, which were relatively new for policy intervention. Policy makers felt that it was also a potentially useful training device for officers taking assignments in these areas.