The beneficiaries pool of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyana Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is being rationalised. The names of 22.1 million people have been deleted across states from the list of those eligible for free ration under the scheme, a move that will allow better targetting of the food subsidy.
Food Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday that what was done is “rightful targeting.” He cited instances of ration cards issued in the names of deceased individuals and those who pay income tax availing themselves of the free ration facility.
The minister, however, added that state governments have been asked to simultaneously add eligible beneficiaries to the PMGKAY list. “Some states have completed the exercise of removing ineligible beneficiaries while others are yet to identify all such people and complete the process,” he said.
ALSO READEl Nino may push India’s power demand to 1,830 BU in FY27 after record 271 GW peak
Data Convergence Exposes
Sources said that 10% of the existing beneficiaries under the PMGKAY after inter-ministerial data convergence have been found to appear in one or more of the databases and may not qualify as per eligibility norms prescribed by the respective states. Several states including Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have initiated steps to weed out ‘ineligible’ ration cards.
Sources said that the food ministry is currently undertaking a ‘comprehensive review exercise’ to strengthen rightful targeting by matching the ministry’s Ration Card Management System (RCMS) database with databases from the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, ministry of corporate affairs, ministry of road transport and highways and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.
An official said in some cases single member households under the poorest of the poor category – Antyoday Anna Yojana (AAY) –who receive 35 kg of grain monthly, while several households are headed by a single member below the age of 18. Many beneficiaries who receive free foodgrains were taxpayers, car owners and directors of companies, while 6-10 million beneficiaries did not lift their share of grains over several months under PMGKAY.
ALSO READLocalisation push boosts solar manufacturing, but new investments face profitability challenge
Tech-Driven Verification
Joshi stated that PDS digitisation has led to 98.5% of foodgrains distributed under PMGKAY being authenticated through Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries and electronic point-of-sale (ePoS) machines.
As per the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, over 813 million beneficiaries can avail 5 kg free grains monthly while following the deletion of ration cards, currently 792 million are getting the benefits. There are estimated to be over 190 million ration cards in the country.
TOPICSFood & BeveragesThis article was first uploaded on June eighteen, twenty twenty-six, at thirty-seven minutes past eight in the night. © The Indian Express (P) Ltd