Accessibility Statement
The Verifiable Public Distribution System is built to be usable by everyone who needs it, including people using screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, magnification or a small screen.
Conformance
This portal targets WCAG 2.1 Level AA and the Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW 3.0). Colour contrast, page structure, keyboard operability and the responsive floor are verified automatically on every build, and a failure blocks the release rather than being logged.
The verification is honest about its own limits: automated checks cannot judge how a screen reader reads a page, only how it is marked up. The gaps below say where a person still has to look.
What is in place
- Keyboard navigation
- Every control is reachable and operable by keyboard. A "Skip to main content" link is the first stop on every page, so the government strip, masthead and navigation can be bypassed.
- Visible focus
- The focused control always carries a high-contrast outline, on both light pages and the dark headers.
- Text sizing
- A- / A / A+ in the strip above scales this page and the homepage, and the choice is remembered. Browser zoom works throughout and is never blocked.
- Colour contrast
- Every text and background pair meets WCAG 2.1 AA (4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text). This is checked automatically on every build, over the whole palette rather than a sample.
- Screen reader structure
- Headings, landmarks, table headers and form labels are marked up so a screen reader can navigate by structure. Decorative icons are hidden from announcement rather than read aloud.
- Reduced motion
- Animations are disabled for viewers whose system requests reduced motion.
- Mobile and handheld
- Pages work down to a 360-pixel-wide viewport without horizontal scrolling. Wide tables scroll within themselves. Touch targets are at least 44 pixels.
Known gaps
These are current limitations, not omissions from this statement.
- Language coverage
- The public homepage and the surrounding chrome are available in English and Hindi. The officer-facing portals are currently English only. Urdu is not yet available.
- Screen reader testing
- Structure is verified automatically on every build. Announcement ORDER and wording have not yet been reviewed with NVDA, JAWS or TalkBack by a person — no automated tool evaluates that.
- Device testing
- Responsive behaviour is asserted automatically. Rendering on the specific pilot tablet and phone models has not yet been carried out.
- Documents
- Reports exported as PDF are generated for filing and are not yet tagged for screen-reader navigation. The same report in CSV or Excel is fully accessible and carries identical data.
Assistive technology
The portal uses standard HTML semantics and ARIA, so it should work with any current screen reader. It is built and structurally tested against the behaviour of NVDA and JAWS on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, and TalkBack on Android. If you use a different tool and something does not work, the contact below is the fastest route to getting it fixed.
Reporting a problem
If any part of this portal is difficult or impossible for you to use, please tell us — including the page, what you were trying to do, and the assistive technology you were using.
For help with a ration card or a grain collection, the NFSA helpline is 1967 (toll free).