Ranchi, Jun 10 (PTI) Over 25,000 outlets under the public distribution system in Jharkhand will function as common service centres to help people get assistance for various services such as payment of bills and applications for PAN cards and passports, an official release said.In a bid to provide a slew of services to people through PDS dealers, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the state food, public distribution and consumer affairs department and CSC-SPV, it said.The CSC E-Governance India Ltd (CSC SPV), a special purpose vehicle under the Union Ministry of Electronics & IT, provides a host of electronic services to consumers through its common service centres.The services, which will be provided to people through PDS shops, include bill payment, application for PAN card, passport and voter ID, and availing of schemes such as PM-Kisan, Ayushman Bharat, e-SHRAM registration, telemedicine and campaign for digital literacy, according to the release issued on Thursday.CSCs are the access points for delivery of these essential public utility services and social welfare schemes in rural and remote areas of the country.Another objective of the initiative is to increase the income of PDS dealers in the state."We welcome the government"s move. But, we would like to urge it to provide some financial assistance in the initial phase, as many dealers may not be able to purchase the electronic gadgets which are required to implement the programme," Fair Price Shop Dealers Association general secretary Sanjay Kundu told PTI.The food department also launched a system under which vacancies in the state quota of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will automatically be filled, the release said.There are over 2.64 crore beneficiaries under the NFSA programme in Jharkhand, and 15 lakh people are under the state food security scheme."Addition and deletion is a continuous process in the NFSA. With the introduction of automatic system, now beneficiaries of state food security scheme will automatically be shifted to NFSA when there is a vacancy," it said.State public distribution and consumer affairs minister Rameshwar Oraon launched the automatic system and said five lakh beneficiaries would be added to the Jharkhand food security scheme this fiscal.The NFSA had been rolled out in the state on October 1, 2015.Around 57 lakh households, covering 2.64 crore people, around 80 per cent of the state population, have been receiving rice at Re 1 per kg in Jharkhand. PTI SAN BDC BDC