Voice-Based Ordering System to Bridge the Gap for Illiterate Users

– According to UNESCO, over 287 million adults in India remain unable to read or write, creating a significant barrier to accessing digital government services, including public distribution systems (PDS). This paper presents the design and implementation of a Voice-Based Ration Ordering System that empowers illiterate and rural users to independently place orders for essential ration items using natural spoken language. The system integrates Google Speech Recognition for speech-to-text conversion supporting 22+ Indian regional languages, a custom Natural Language Processing (NLP) engine for extracting items, quantities, and units from free-form speech, and Google Text-to-Speech (gTTS) for multilingual audio confirmation of orders. A Next.js-based frontend provides a clean, accessible user interface, while a Flask-based backend handles API routing, order management, and database operations. Experimental results confirm accurate item extraction from natural speech and seamless multilingual support across English, Hindi, and Telugu.