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Rice scheme to over 2.7cr people in Telangana
With Telangana government already announcing its plans to kickoff the new rice distribution scheme from January 1 onwards, official machineries of 10 districts are racing against time to complete the survey. As per December 27 data, 76.5 lakh families in the State have been identified as new beneficiaries.
Hyderabad: With Telangana government already announcing its plans to kickoff the new rice distribution scheme from January 1 onwards, official machineries of 10 districts are racing against time to complete the survey. As per December 27 data, 76.5 lakh families in the State have been identified as new beneficiaries. This includes pink cards (set to replace the existing white for BPL families) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cards meant for the poorest of the poor. While the State government fixed a target of distributing 6.4 lakh AAY cards, so far it identified only 4.15 lakh beneficiaries eligible for it.
- District officials racing against time to complete verification process for new ration cards
- Verification process set to complete in next few days
- Only BPL families to get 'pink' cards, no other card to be issued to non-beneficiaries
It may be mentioned here that AAY is a Centre-sponsored scheme for the poor in the country which was launched by the NDA government in December 2000. Under it, 35 kg of rice would be provided to beneficiaries irrespective of the number of family members. Speaker Madhusudhana Chary, who is striving to bring back Chenchus into mainstream fold, has used his good offices and ensured AAY cards for Chenchus recently.
From January 1 onwards, 76.5 lakh families would be given one rupee-kilo rice. With Telangana administration making clear that 6 kg of rice would be distributed to each family member, around 2.67 crore members of the beneficiary families identified thus far would derive benefit from this scheme.
During the previous Congress regime, close to 2.28 crore people in the State benefited from the subsidised rice scheme. The State government distributed 1.17 lakh metric tonnes of rice through fair price shops each month. With rice quantity increasing to 6 kg from previous 4 kg per member and the number of beneficiaries already touching 2.67 crore, Telangana government would require at least one-and-half times more the quantity of rice required when compared to previous scheme.
According to higher officials in Civil Supplies department, the number of beneficiaries increased due to various factors like increase of annual salary cap in both rural and urban areas, increase of number of families over the years etc. No other card other than pink
Meanwhile, Telangana government has decided to move away from the practice of the previous government, which issued white cards for BPL families and pink cards to all others who did not fall under the BPL category. These pink cards were mainly used as ID proof.
However, with 98 per cent of population already having Aadhaar cards, TS government will issue only cards to BPL families. However, they would be in pink, the customary colour of the ruling party, replacing the white colour. Minister Eatala Rajender already issued directions to district authorities to complete issuance of the new ration card formalities by January end in rural and by February end in urban areas.
