J&K govt refutes claim about cancellation of BPL ration cards

Srinagar, Dec 22 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir’s Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs (FCSCA) has strongly refuted reports about the cancellation of BPL ration cards, terming them “totally fabricated” and “based on false assumptions”.

There were reports on social media, particularly of a video, wherein it has been alleged that “…the Government has issued an order cancelling around 1.5 lakh Below Poverty Line ration cards affecting a huge number of beneficiaries and putting their families in distress …”

As per a statement issued by the Department, no such order has been issued. Besides, it has rebutted the claims that the figure being quoted in the said video does not even match the actual deletion figure of 1.27 lakh cited in media reports for having been reported to the parliament recently with regard to fake and duplicate ration card deletions in Jammu and Kashmir since 2013. These are in fact the deletions carried out in the past, over 10 years in J&K as a part of reforms pursued by the Central Government across the country.

"The document added that elimination of bogus/duplicate ration cards and beneficiaries is an essential requirement under Targeted PDS Control Order of Government of India, which is now being established through technology interventions like Aadhaar seeding, eKYC and through field verification," the statement added.

"As a result of accelerated Aadhaar seeding, pursued by the Department, huge duplication of ration cards and beneficiaries was established leading to deletion of such ration cards and beneficiaries over the years. At the same time, bringing the left-out eligible beneficiaries under the PDS cover has also been seriously pursued by the Department, and this effort has also led to the addition of 8.6 lakh eligible beneficiaries to PDS in J&K since shifting to a dependable Ration Card Management System in September 2022," it said.

"Further, it is clarified that only order issued by the Department in the recent past in the context of PDS seeks inclusion of children born during years 2011 to 2016 in their family ration cards so that additional benefits flow to these beneficiaries and households as per eligibility under PDS,” the statement said.

The Department has also issued explicit orders for prompt inclusion of any eligible beneficiary still left out under PDS, wherever reported. As a result of these efforts, the number of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), who are provided free food grains every month, has gone up from 66.37 lakh to 66.59 lakh during the last three months.

Additionally, the Department has also pursued, in a mission mode, the inclusion of left-out JK registrants on the e-Shram Portal so that none such registrant who is eligible under PDS for free or subsidised food grains, remains uncovered.

A mammoth exercise for matching nearly 34.80 lakh such registrants in J&K was carried out in coordination with NIC and every registrant who remained unmatched with the PDS database was approached by the Department of Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and Labour & Employment Department for securing their inclusion. Of these, nearly 34.40 lakh registrants are presently availing benefits under PDS or other schemes, and the remaining 40000, could not either be traced by the Department or they refused to share their details and documents, despite making efforts in coordination with respective district administrations.

A spokesman of the Department said it is making arrangements for providing free food grains every month to 66.59 lakh beneficiaries under NFSA and for providing highly subsidised food grains to another group of 31.81 lakh beneficiaries in the Non-Priority Households category, which implies that 98.40 lakh people are presently benefitted under PDS every month in J&K.

The spokesman further said that technological interventions like Aadhar seeding, e-PDS etc. are aimed at securing the marginalised communities their due share in ration distribution and this would remain a priority of the Department so that eligible beneficiaries benefit under the Targeted Public Distribution System and undeserving are weeded out.

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