Anna Chakra : In News
The Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has achieved a remarkable milestone by being named as finalist for the 2026 Franz Edelman Award for its Anna Chakra initiative.
- It is a supply chain optimization tool under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
- It is an operations research–based decision support system designed to optimise state-specific food grain logistics under India’s Public Distribution System (PDS)
- The initiative was developed through a Government–UN–Academia partnership, involving:
- The Department of Food and Public Distribution,
- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in India, and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.
- It leverages advanced algorithms to identify optimal routes and ensure seamless movement of food grains across supply chain nodes.
- It is integrated with the PM Gati Shakti platform and FOIS (Freight Operations Information System) portal of the Railways through Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP).
Franz Edelman Award:
- It recognizes the world’s most impactful, high-value applications of advanced analytics.
- It is widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize of Operations Research and Analytics”.
- It recognizes and reward outstanding examples of operations research, management science, and advanced analytics practice in the world.
- Award: Winner gets a $10,000 prize.
