2.16 crore bogus and ineligible ration cards deleted

The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) has been notified which provides for all India coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population of the country for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains. Corresponding to above coverage, State/UT-wise coverage for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains was determined by the then Planning Commission. Total 81,34,91,135 number of beneficiaries under NFSA/ Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) are to be identified by respective State/UT Governments and State/UT wise number of beneficiaries are fixed. This information was given by the Minister of State Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri C.R Chaudhary in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

The Minister said that under End to End Computerisation Programme, all State/UT Governments interalia have been requested to digitize the data of beneficiaries and to review the lists of beneficiaries for the purpose of deletion of ineligible families and inclusion of eligible families. As per the information reported by State/UTs Government upto 15.07.2016, approximately 2.16 crore number of de-duplicated/ghost/ineligible/forged/ fake etc. ration cards have been deleted by the State/UT Governments during the years 2013 to 2016.

Under the said Programme, following steps have also been initiated to bring transparency in distribution of foodgrains and to check its diversion :

•Online allocation
•Supply Chain Management
•Application of IT tools for functioning of PDS.
•Online/Toll free Grievance Redressal Mechanism
He said that 25 States have started implementing Online allocation system, 15 States have started supply chain management module and all State/UTs have started Online/Toll free Grievance Redressal Mechanism System.

On the basis of allocation Orders issued by Deptt. of Food & Public Distribution, Food Corporation of India[FCI] issues foodgrains [Wheat/Rice/Coarse grains] from FCI Depots to State Government and Government Departments. After making advance payment to FCI, State Government lifts foodgrains from FCI Depots and ensures delivery of Foodgrains at Fair Price Shop through their agencies for distribution to beneficiaries. The procedure for payment by dealers is laid down by the State/UTs and further allocation orders within the State/UTs are issued by the respective State/UT Governments.

Shri C.R Chaudhary said that in order to ensure timely availability of foodgrains, Government of India has been issuing orders for allocation of foodgrains under TPDS/NFSA in advance and has directed the State/UT Governments to lift the foodgrains before the allocation month. Besides, Advisories are issued from time to time to State/UT Governments to lift the foodgrain from FCI Depots well within time limit to improve the offtake of the same so that the same can be made available for distribution to beneficiaries under TPDS.

Under End-to-End Computerization Programme, Online allocation system, Supply Chain Management module and Grievance Redressal Mechanism have to be implemented by all the State/UT Governments to remove procedural delay between payment and release of foodgrains. This will ensure transparency as anyone can check the status of allocation for delivery of foodgrains upto FPS.