The government on Friday said about 4.39 crore bogus ration cards have been weeded out since 2013 for rightful targeting of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). New ration cards are regularly issued to genuine and rightfully eligible beneficiaries or households against the deleted ration cards, it said in a statement.
In a statement, the Union food ministry said that amid the technology-driven reforms to modernise the PDS, a total of about 4.39 crore ineligible or bogus ration cards have been weeded out in the country during the period from 2013 to 2020 so far by the state governments. To bring transparency and improve efficiency in PDS, the government has digitised beneficiaries database and made it mandatory the seeding of Aadhaar number that has helped detect ineligible and bogus rations cards.
It has also helped to weed out de-duplication of digitised data and migration or deaths of beneficiaries during the run-up to the implementation of NFSA, it added. Under the NFSA, the central government is providing foodgrains to states for distribution to 81.35 crore people via public distribution system (PDS), also known as ration shops, at a subsidised rate of Rs 2 per kg rice and Rs 3 per kg wheat, costing over Rs 1 lakh crore annually to the exchequer.
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