The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ms. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), inter-alia the inclusion and exclusion of beneficiaries is the responsibility of the respective State/UT Governments. Further, inclusion and exclusion of beneficiaries under NFSA is an ongoing process as per the eligibility criteria evolved by the States/UTs. Accordingly, leveraging the implementation of information technology for Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) reforms under NFSA, digitization of ration cards/beneficiaries’ data, de-duplication process, permanent migration, deaths, identification of ineligible/duplicate/fake ration cards, etc. the States/UTs so far have reported cancellation of about 4.28 Crore ration cards during the period 2014 to 2021. However, linking or non-linking of Aadhaar with ration cards is not a criterion for deletion/cancellation of ration cards under NFSA. A statement showing State/UT wise, and year wise number of ration cards deleted by States/UTs during 2014 to 2021 is at Annexure.

 

            To ensure all NFSA beneficiaries are in receipt of their monthly foodgrains in full quantities as per the entitlements of their Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Household (PHH) ration cards, all States/UT have been advised vide time to time letters, meetings and video conferences to ensure the distribution of foodgrains at FPSs through transparent electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) device transactions, along with biometric authentication of beneficiaries and provide ePoS printed transaction receipts to all beneficiaries in local/bilingual languages.

 

            Under the Notification dated 08/02/2017 (as amended from time to time), issued by the Department pursuant to Section-7 of the Aadhaar Act 2016, the timeline given to all States/UTs for linking of Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries with their ration cards has been extended up to 31/03/2022. Until then, as per the extant instructions of the Department vide letters dated 24/10/2017 and 08/11/2018, States/UTs have been advised that no genuine NFSA beneficiary/household shall be denied from receiving their entitled quota of subsidized foodgrains only for want of Aadhaar; or due to failure of biometric/Aadhaar authentication due to network/ connectivity/ linking related issues, poor biometrics of the beneficiary or any other technical reasons.

 

            States/UTs were also advised to integrate electronic weighing machines/scales with ePoS devices at all FPSs to ensure correct and transparent weighment of foodgrains by FPS dealers at the time of distribution. Presently, around 90% of monthly foodgrains allocated by the Department are distributed by the States/UTs through ePoS transactions.

 

Statement showing State/UT wise, and year wise number of ration cards deleted by States/UTs during 2014 to 2021:

 

Sl.	State/UT	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	Total
1	Andhra Pradesh	5,45,987	1,29,202	4,75,023	5,449	15,209	12,762	24,523	13,128	12,21,283
2	Andaman & Nicobar	-	37	7	6	47	421	431	-	949
3	Arunachal Pradesh	1,059	115	4,396	56	-	-	-	-	5,626
4	Assam	-	-	1,08,681	42,077	1,35,250	22,412	21,291	11,120	3,40,831
5	Bihar	21,712	16,401	6,291	-	2,18,051	3,92,713	99,404	-	7,54,572
6	Chandigarh	-	-	-	88	-	-	-	-	88
7	Chhattisgarh	7,10,000	1,43,000	1,50,000	1,50,000	56,834	1,38,967	4,508	4,368	13,57,677
8	DNH and Daman Diu	-	262	650	272	4,898	577	5,840	1,410	13,909
9	Delhi	-	38,496	22,696	3,969	2,56,987	381	518	-	3,23,047
10	Goa	93	1,45,471	10,115	6,146	1,130	888	148	59	1,64,050
11	Gujarat	64,079	45,833	22,119	18,965	95,659	23,038	47,936	11,958	3,29,587
12	Haryana	22,903	43,515	19,648	29,686	2,91,926	-	-	-	4,07,678
13	Himachal Pradesh	235	-	1,148	172	56,858	367	4,376	2,538	65,694
14	Jammu and Kashmir	640	3,325	50,709	664	3,428	13,869	13,224	NIL	85,859
15	Jharkhand	19	7,914	4,46,025	3,59,793	82,394	60,333	65,234	-	10,21,712
16	Karnataka	6,64,755	7,61,326	1,44,432	3,26,382	73,675	1,09,312	31,753	42,558	21,54,193
17	Kerala	57	-	-	-	3,314	2,543	52,475	1,04,511	1,62,900
18	Ladakh	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NIL	NIL	614	614
19	Lakshadweep	76	872	442	-	5	6	7	33	1,441
20	Madhya Pradesh	1,313	-	3,89,124	1,84,673	1,27,441	61,265	1,65,829	14,24,115	23,53,760
21	Maharashtra	85,160	8,20,780	11,55,908	-	12,81,922	6,53,677	1,31,986	36,119	41,65,552
22	Manipur	-	-	-	336	-	-	45,321	15,541	61,198
23	Meghalaya	-	-	-	-	2,568	10,525	16	-	13,109
24	Mizoram	47	53	101	559	107	156	1,443	1,637	4,103
25	Nagaland	3,247	-	-	8,521	7,723	18,552	7,304	-	45,347
26	Odisha	-	-	6,50,471	35,740	-	-	-	-	6,86,211
27	Puducherry	10,629	56,121	9,886	3,290	3,533	2,093	1,881	1,731	89,164
28	Punjab	93,267	-	-	69,945	34,972	94,031	1,79,837	3,305	4,75,357
29	Rajasthan	-	26,329	13,71,230	73,110	8,016	72,276	5,80,241	1,35,283	22,66,485
30	Sikkim	-	-	11,714	1,126	3,377	5,622	6,981	-	28,820
31	Tamil Nadu	96,406	1,14,175	84,470	9,089	-	-	-	-	3,04,140
32	Telangana	11,71,354	83,048	5,21,790	41,194	3,101	40,684	12,154	NIL	18,73,325
33	Tripura	11,814	66,236	92,728	-	18,874	552	1,099	490	1,91,793
34	Uttar Pradesh	19,117	2,33,847	25,86,541	44,41,748	43,72,491	41,52,273	8,54,025	4,15,259	1,70,75,301
35	Uttarakhand	-	1,11,367	89,984	3,18,718	1,26,268	-	-	-	6,46,337
36	West Bengal	16,77,311	21,84,152	-	-	88,593	1,00,151	59,666	-	41,09,873
	Total	52,01,280	50,31,877	84,26,329	61,31,774	73,74,651	59,90,446	24,19,451	22,25,777	4,28,01,585

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