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Indian Express
2 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Centre lists ‘ineligible' ration card holders, asks states to remove them
THE CENTRAL government has for the first time prepared a list of ration card holders who may not qualify for benefits such as free food grains since they are either taxpayers, owners of four-wheelers or even directors in companies. The Centre's Department of Food and Public Distribution has arrived at such a list by matching the details of ration card holders with databases of government entities such as the Income-Tax department (taxpayers), Ministry of Corporate Affairs (directors) and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (four-wheeler owners). The officials said these ration card holders — about 1.17 crore — may not qualify for free food grains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Having arrived at this list, it has now directed states to undertake necessary field verification and remove the ineligible ration card holders by September 30. Responding to a query from The Indian Express, an official from the Department of Food and Public Distribution said the Centre 'has helped states by providing this data to identify and remove ineligible beneficiaries so that genuine people in the waiting list can avail the scheme'. The review of ration cards/ beneficiaries list, identification of ineligible/ duplicate ration cards and inclusion of eligible beneficiaries/ households is the responsibility of states, he said. The NFSA dashboard shows that 19.17 crore ration cards have been issued as on August 19, with total beneficiaries across 36 states and Union Territories totalling 76.10 crore. As per rules, all government employees, households with annual income of Rs 1 lakh or more, four-wheeler owners, and taxpayers are ineligible to get free foodgrains. In a letter to Chief Secretaries of all states and Advisors to the UT Administrators, Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra reiterated the government's earlier instructions about discrepancies identified in the Ration Card Management System (RCMS) database. 'These discrepancies were related to beneficiaries who were either duplicate, deceased, or inactive (silent beneficiaires) and State/UTs were accordingly advised to undertake identification and field verification of such beneficiaries,' he wrote in the letter sent to states on July 8, 2025. 'In continuation of this initiative, the Department has undertaken a comprehensive exercise to further strengthen rightful targeting by matching RCMS data with databases of various Government of India entities including the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), and PM-Kisan,' Chopra wrote. 'Based on this inter-ministerial data convergence, the Department has identified a set of beneficiaries who appear in one or more of the above databases and may not qualify as per eligibility norms prescribed by respective States/UTs. These lists will be shared with all States/UTs via API-based integration and will be visible to State officials through the Rightful Targeting Dashboard developed by the Department,' he wrote. 'As you are aware, the responsibility for identification of beneficiaries rests with the State Government. You are, therefore, requested to kindly undertake necessary field verification of such flagged cases and initiate appropriate action for data cleansing, wherever ineligibility is established. This exercise is critical to ensure that the resources under TPDS are directed only towards the eligible households,' said Food Secretary Chopra. 'I am sure that you will appreciate that cleansing the database of ineligible beneficiaries will enable any left-out deserving individuals and families to be included in the system, thus reinforcing the equity and integrity of the Public Distribution System,' he said. 'It is requested that the above exercise be completed expeditiously and latest by 30th September 2025,' Chopra said in the report. In July, the Centre had informed Rajya Sabha that as many as 1.34 crore 'bogus/ ineligible' ration cards had been deleted/ cancelled during 2021-2023. The NFSA, introduced by the then UPA government with effect from July 5, 2013, entitles 67 per cent of households—50 per cent urban and 75 per cent rural— to receive food grains at a subsidised price (rice Rs 3/kg, wheat Rs 2/kg) under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). In absolute terms, the maximum number of people, which can be covered by the NFSA across the country is about 81.35 crore. However, the NDA government has waived the subsidised prices under its Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, providing free food grains.
Time of India
30-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
11904 cases resolved in special revenue campaign
Indore: District administration on Wednesday announced that the mega campaign launched for swift resolution of revenue cases had achieved its target of resolving 100 percent cases pending till May 31, including those registered under RCMS (Revenue Case Monitoring System) and the Public Service Guarantee Act. "To ensure complete transparency and accountability, a reward of Rs 5,000 has been announced for any applicant who reports a revenue case from the period before May 31, 2025 that has not been resolved yet," Collector Asheesh Singh said, adding this amount would be recovered from the concerned revenue officer responsible for the delay. He said that the campaign, which ran across the entire district from June 16 to July 31, aimed to provide quick resolution to revenue-related issues and update land records for the citizens of Indore district. The target was to resolve all applications for mutation, partition, demarcation, sub-division, right-of-way disputes, possession disputes, and record corrections received through Public Service Centres or registered in RCMS by May 31, 2025. During the review, it was reported that within this period, a total of 5,079 cases of mutation, 642 cases of partition, 2,305 cases of demarcation, 1,994 cases of sub-division, 209 cases of right-of-way disputes, 271 cases of possession disputes, and 1,404 cases of record corrections were carried out. "In total, the campaign resolved 11,904 revenue cases across the district," he said.
Time of India
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Some Pune ration shops distributed cement-mixed grains to citizens: Shirole in House
Pune: BJP's Shivajinagar MLA Siddharth Shirole on Monday flagged alleged irregularities in Pune's food distribution system in the state legislative assembly, claiming that some ration shops supplied wheat and rice contaminated with cement to citizens. "Recently, a shocking case came to light where wheat and rice mixed with cement were reportedly distributed to citizens at certain ration shops in Pune. Such incidents are nothing short of playing with the lives of the common people," the MLA said, while pressing for the appointment of a full-time rationing officer to bring transparency and accountability to the system. The MLA raised the issue after a recent case emerged in Dhankawdi where citizens complained of getting wheat and rice mixed with cement from a ration shop. According to the Food Security Act, govt should provide nutritious grains on ration. "Cement and food grains are kept in the same warehouse," a resident said, demanding an inquiry into the incident. You Can Also Check: Pune AQI | Weather in Pune | Bank Holidays in Pune | Public Holidays in Pune A food supply distribution official confirmed the incident and said, "We conducted the inquiry and removed the cement bags from the shop. There are 672 such shops in the city." Shirole also highlighted technical inefficiencies plaguing the department's digital systems. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Providers are furious: Internet access without a subscription! Techno Mag Learn More Undo "The RCMS (ration card management system) website is often slow or down, causing delays in critical citizen services like issuing new ration cards or making corrections," he said. Activists have long been pointing out the issue of registering new ration cards with the updated system. The MLA raised the issue as point of observation and later submitted a letter to the minister of food and civil supplies. Pushpa Waghmode, a domestic help, said she didn't receive foodgrains from a fair price shop for two months despite linking Aadhaar with her ration card. "Last month, my name wasn't on the list at the shop. Even after it was added, I didn't get ration this time due to fingerprint authentication failure," she said, expressing her frustration. Another beneficiary, Nilima Raut, said she did not get ration since Jan. "I took my Aadhaar card to the fair price shop. Even after entering details and providing with my biometrics, the data did not add up," she said. Activist Shubha Shamim said various checks in place were impacting food security for beneficiaries. "The beneficiaries were initially deprived due to issues with linking Aadhaar to ration cards. Now, equipment like face recognition systems aren't helping them either," she said, adding that many beneficiaries lacked smartphones, making Aadhaar linking and authentication difficult. She advocated for exempting ration and anganwadi supplementary nutrition from face recognition systems. Pune district officials confirmed that there was no dedicated officer for Pune city and an official was given additional charge. "A regular post and charge will be able to monitor the issue properly," said an official from the supply department.
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
With no ration cards, Mizoram families unable to avail health scheme
Aizawl: A plethora of families in Mizoram cannot register themselves in the newly-launched Mizoram Universal Health Care Scheme (MUHCS) because of the inability of the state food, civil supplies & consumer affairs (FCS&CA) department to issue ration cards for months due to technical challenges. FCS&CA department officials said ration cards could not be issued to a large number of applicants due to the Centre deactivating the Ration Card Management System (RCMS). "The central government is undertaking a new project called SMART-PDS by amalgamating three softwares in use — RCMS, FEAST and AePDS while RCMS has already been deactivated. Due to this exercise, all these softwares are no longer in use resulting in the department being unable to process family ration cards," a senior department official said on Wednesday. The official said the department could no longer issue ration cards for some time and they do not know how long it will take to restore the entire system. "We are hoping that the system will be restored soon, but we cannot say when," he said. Family rations cards being one of the compulsory documents for registration in the MUHCS, a number of families in the state still cannot register themselves under the cashless health care scheme launched by the Mizoram govt on April 1. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Click Here To Read More - micro segmentation software Expertinspector Click Here Undo "The state govt's deadline for registration under the MUHCS is June 30 and we do not know when we can have our ration card by that time," said Lalmawii, a resident of Aizawl. Under the MUHCS, registered family can avail up to Rs 5 lakh for treatment per family per year with the contribution of Rs 2,500 per family per year (for general wards in empanelled hospitals), Rs 5,000 per family (semi-private wards) and Rs. 10,000 per family (private wards).
