Jabalpur youth Mridul’s innovationDevelops software to help US fight food insecurity through EBT

 

 

THE 28-YEAR-OLD Jabalpur lad, Mridul Singhai developedasoftware that helped feed millions of people in America. The journey started in 2015, when Mridul received a full scholarship to Drexel University in Philadelphia. There, he noticed many neighbours who faced foodi nsecurity due to limited access to affordable grocery stores. To address these issues, Mridul joined Instacart, a grocery technology company, after graduating in 2019. Instacart delivers groceries from 80,000 supermarkets to 98% of American postal codes and experienced a 15x surge in demand in March 2020. This surge strained operational and engineering systems.Isolated in his apartment, Mridul worked on the core engineering team, pulling 120-hour work weeks to help stabilise Instacart.

 

In May 2020, Instacart was approached by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to launch a pilot programme to accept Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) of food stamps online. EBT is the US Government’s method of providing direct food assistance to low-incomegroups. In 2020,4.2 crore (of 33 crore) Americans received this aid. An EBT card allows its holder to buy eligible food items at authorised retailers. Due to his technical prowess, business acumen and dedication tosocial good,Mridulwas asked to lead the online EBT project justafew months into his job. AcceptingEBTonlineiscomplex due to nascent operating procedures,highsecurityrequirements andtheneedtoinnovatenewUX patterns to meet compliance standards. Additionally, ensuring transactional anonymity is crucialto address the stigma associated with receiving Government assistance. In just five months, Mridul’s cross-functional efforts led to Instacart becoming the first majorprovidertoacceptonline EBT, allowing millions of Americans to order fresh food withoutleavingtheirhomesduring lockdown. Four years later, Instacart delivershundredsofthousands of EBT orders weekly, reaching 97% of eligible recipients.

 

The son of City-based Praveen Singhai, an expert in Water Resource and Dr Mamta Singhai, was even promoted to staff software engineer for his technical andbusinessleadership,apositiontypicallyrequiringadecade of experience. Mridul said, “India can look to the EBT asamodel for improving the delivery of aid through its Public Distribution System (PDS). The PDS, while crucial in providing food and essentials to millions, is plagued by inefficiencies such as leakage, corruption and in effective targeting. By developing a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system,Indiacan ensure that subsidies and benefits reach the intended recipients directly,reducing water and corruption while enhancing transparency and efficiency across the system