Harsh and I have co-authored a piece on bringing efficiency and quality to food welfare:
Building on this broad political consensus, the Union government could design a comprehensives program that provides food security to India’s masses in the form of food stamps that can be encashed not just at government ration shops but also at modern retail chains and supermarkets built by global and Indian retailers. Such food stamps could be used to buy groceries, grains and packaged food at any shop, private or public. Any fraud or misuse of food stamps can be prevented by leveraging the UID program to target subsidies effectively – the benefit could even be delivered electronically via smart cards.
More here.