Punjab would start the distribution of food grains amongst the beneficiaries, under the state-sponsored Smart Ration Card Scheme of the Congress-led State Government, from January 5, next year.Announcing this while presiding over the meeting of a Sub-Committee constituted by the Chief Minister, the state Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Wednesday said that under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, 1.41 crore needy people were being provided ration by the State Government despite that some beneficiaries were bereft of taking advantage of this scheme.“In view of this, the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh directed to start this state sponsored scheme so as to provide ration to each and every needy person. Under this scheme, 9,48,801 members of about 2,37,200 families in the state will be provided food grains and the entire expenditure of this would be borne by the Punjab Government,” said Ashu.The Minister said that as many as 92.35 percent beneficiaries of the State had been provided food grains under the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana. On this occasion, the members of the sub-committee also took stock of the progress of Smart Ration Card Scheme. The members of the sub-committee include, Cabinet Ministers — Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Aruna Chaudhary, Sunder Sham Arora; besides MLAs — Kuljit Singh Nagra, Madan Lal Jalalpur, Pritam Singh Kotbhai, and Davinder Singh Ghubaya.