Question : Fake Ration Cards

(a) whether the Government has issued any directions/guidelines to the State Governments to review the list of Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries and ration cards to eliminate fake ration cards and ineligible beneficiaries;
(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the number of beneficiaries/cards as on date and the number of cards cancelled and beneficiaries excluded during the last one year along with the subsidy saved as a result thereof, State-wise;
(c) whether some States have been unsuccessful in following these guidelines and if so, the details thereof and reasons therefor and the remedial measures taken in this regard;
(d) whether the Government proposes to issue biometric ration cards, if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to be implemented; and
(e) whether the Government has linked/ proposes to link PDS with Direct Benefit Transfer and if so, the quantum of food subsidy saved as a result thereof ?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)
(a) to (c): Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2001 and Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2015, stipulate that State/UT Governments are required to review the lists of beneficiaries every year for the purpose of deletion of ineligible families and inclusion of eligible families. State/UT Governments have been requested from time to time to carry out drives for reviewing the list of beneficiaries under TPDS. The exercise of deletion of bogus/ineligible cards and inclusion of eligible families is a continuous process and State/UT Governments are to periodically carry out the same. As per the information received from State/UT Governments the total number of ration cards as on 12.07.2016 are 24,01,61,531.
…2/-
…2…
As per the information received from State/UT Governments, a State-wise statement showing the number of de-duplicated/ghost/ ineligible/ fake/forged ration cards deleted by the State/UT Governments in year 2015 is at Annex.
Detection and deletion of de-duplicated/ghost/ ineligible/fake/forged cards does not mean reduction in allocation and savings in subsidy but results in selection of deserving beneficiaries and issuance of ration cards to them leading to better targeting of subsidy.
(d): No, Madam. However, the guideline for FPS automation has been shared with all States/UTs which involves installation of Point of Sale (PoS) device at FPS inter-alia for authentication of beneficiaries through biometric details.
(e): It is upto the State/UT Governments to opt for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under which subsidy component will be credited to bank accounts of beneficiaries who are free to buy foodgrains from anywhere in the market to ensure their foodgrains entitlement. For taking up this model, pre-requisites for the States/UTs are complete digitization of beneficiary data and seeding bank account details of beneficiaries with AADHAAR. The scheme has been implemented on pilot basis in UTs of Chandigarh and Puducherry w.e.f. 1st September, 2015 and Dadra & Nagar Haveli w.e.f. 1st March, 2016. An amount equivalent to 1.25 times of Minimum Support Price of concerned foodgrain minus Central Issue Price is credited as food subsidy in the household’s account.
****
ANNEX
ANNEX REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (c)OF THE UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1517 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 26.07.2016 IN THE LOK SABHA
Updated Statement* of Deleted Ration Cards**
Sl.
States/UTs
2015
1
Andaman & Nicobar
37
2
Andhra Pradesh
0
3
Arunachal Pradesh
43
4
Assam
0
5
Bihar
16,401
6
Chandigarh (on DBT)
0
7
Chhattisgarh
1,43,000
8
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
0
9
Daman & Diu
0
10
Delhi
22,171
11
Goa
1,17,801
12
Gujarat
0
13
Haryana
0
14
Himachal Pradesh
0
15
Jammu and Kashmir
0
16
Jharkhand
7,914
17
Karnataka
17,52,749
18
Kerala
0
19
Lakshadweep
0
20
Madhya Pradesh
0
21
Maharashtra
8,20,780
22
Manipur
0
23
Meghalaya
0
24
Mizoram
48
25
Nagaland
0
26
Odisha
0
27
Puducherry (on DBT)
9,507
28
Punjab
93,627
29
Rajasthan
26,329
30
Sikkim
0
31
Tamil Nadu
1,14,175
32
Telangana
10,27,000
33
Tripura
66,580
34
Uttar Pradesh
6,38,152
35
Uttarakhand
0
36
West Bengal
18,34,284
*
Statement is prepared as per details/information by States/UTs through weekly proformas; and emails
**
Cards deleted due to detection of Ghost / fraudulent / duplicate / ineligible / migration / deaths, etc. during the the process of digitization, de-duplication, Aadhaar seeding in run up /implementation of NFSA
***