With a view to ensuring that only eligible beneficiaries get ration supply under Public Distribution System (PDS) and for their error-free identification, ration cards have been linked with Aadhaar numbers, officials informed.
Till date, 91.43 per cent of the Aadhaar numbers have been linked with ration cards, they informed.
Officers of Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Protection Department informed that this work of Aadhaar seeding is in process to ensure that the benefits of government schemes are availed by only eligible beneficiaries.
Out of total 58.58 lakh cards in the State under PDS, 53.56 lakh ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar numbers.
According to Department Officials, four lakh 52 thousand 783 ration cards in Bilaspur district, four lakh 29 thousand 671 ration cards in Janjgir-Champa district, two lakh 26 thousand 134 ration cards in Korba district, one lakh 78 thousand 276 ration cards in Mungeli district, three lakh 58 thousand 531 ration cards in Raigarh district, one lakh 57 thousand 114 in Balod district, one lakh 80 thousand 075 in Bemetara district, two lakh 97 thousand 926 ration cards in Durg district, two lakh two thousand 831 in Kabeerdham district, two lakh 92 thousand 775 in Rajnandgaon district, two lakh 91 thousand 885 ration cards in Balodabazar-Bhatapara district, one lakh 63 thousand 888 in Dhamtari district, one lakh 28 thousand 813 ration cards in Gariaband district, two lakh 76 thousand 094 in Mahasamund district, three lakh 15 thousand 871 ration cards in Raipur district, one lakh 56 thousand 721 ration cards in Balrampur-Ramanujganj district, one lakh 85 thousand 557 in Jashpur district, one lakh 29 thousand 368 in Koriya district, one lakh 95 thousand 775 ration cards in Sarguja district, on lakh 69 thousand 934 in Surajpur district, one lakh 59 thousand 334 ration cards in Bastar district, 37 thousand 083 in Bijapur district, 45 thousand 834 in South Bastar (Dantewada) district, one lakh 49 thousand 909 ration cards in North Bastar (Kanker) district, 22 thousand 107 ration cards in Narayanpur district, one lakh 14 thousand 915 in Kondagaon district, and 36 thousand 943 ration cards in Sukma district have been seeded with Aadhaar numbers.
Considerable progress has also been achieved in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan with 17,000 (99%), 11,965 (97%) and 24,649 (96%) automated Fair Price Shops (FPSs) respectively, the Central Government has informed.
As a result, these States have been able to reduce ghost lifting, achieve better targeting of food subsidies by authentication of eligible beneficiaries, improvement in service delivery, weeding out bad FPSs, etc.
Notably, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan has requested States to expedite the reforms so as to bring transparency in the functioning of Public Distribution System (PDS), which is a key feature of National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Highlighting the significant role played by Central and State Governments in ensuring food security to more than 80 crore eligible beneficiaries under the NFSA, which is presently being implemented in 34 States/UTs, Paswan requested Kerala and Tamil Nadu also to implement the Act as early as possible.
The Minister was addressing the inaugural session of the National Conference on Reforms in PDS and Computerisation in New Delhi on Friday.
He appreciated the significant efforts made by the various State/UT Governments in achieving 100% digitization of ration cards and automating 1.5 lakh Fair Price Shops across the country.
Officers from the State Governments of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra shared the Best Practices in Aadhaar Seeding, FPS automation and Supply Chain Management for the benefit of others States/UTs.
The Minister also requested the concerned States/UTs, lagging behind in PDS Computerization in general, and in Aadhaar seeding and FPS automation in particular.
Paswan said due to Aadhaar seeding a total of 2.33 crore ghost/fraudulent/duplicate ration cards have been deleted across 27 States and UTs which has led to estimated ‘Rightful Targeting of Food Subsidies’ of Rs14,000 crore.