MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION ( DR. AKHILESH PRASAD SINGH )
(a) & (b): Yes, Sir. The Antyodaya Anna Yojana cards are being issued to the poorest of the poor BPL households with a view to reducing hunger among them and ensure food security since December, 2000. The criteria for selection of households under AAY continue to be the poorest of the poor from the BPL list with a thrust on categories like landless agricultural labourers, marginal farmers, rural artisans/craftsman such as potters, tappers, weavers, black-smith, carpenters etc. in the rural areas and slum dwellers and persons earning their livelihood on daily basis in the informal sector like potters, rickshaw-pullers, cart-pullers, fruit and flower sellers on the pavement etc. in urban areas in the country.
(c) & (d): Details of card holders under AAY is not maintained area wise by the Government. After inception of the Scheme in December, 2000 for one crore poorest of the poor BPL households its coverage has been progressively expanded to 2.5 crore BPL households so far. As against this, the number of AAY families identified and issued ration cards is 1.82 crore. State-wise details are annexed.
The Government of NCT of Delhi has identified and issued distinctive ration cards to 56249 AAY families as on today against the target of 1.56 lakh. The next phase of identification and issue of cards begins on 01.09.2005.
(e): As per the announcement made in the Union Budget the coverage of AAY has already been increased from 2 crore (last year) to 2.5 crore during this year, both for rural and urban areas.
ANNEXURE
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (c) & (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1167 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 1.8.2005 IN THE LOK SABHA.
As on 25.7.2005
Sl. No. State/UT Estimated No. of No. of AAY households identified and Ration AAY Households Cards issued by the State Governments/UTs (in lakhs) (in lakhs)
1. Andhra Pradesh 15.578 12.336
2. Arunachal Pradesh 0.380 0.301
3. Assam 7.040 4.115
4. Bihar 25.010 10.000
5. Chhatisgarh 7.189 5.693
6. Delhi 1.568 0.555
7 Goa 0.184 0.110
8. Gujarat 8.128 6.437
9. Haryana 3.025 1.815
10. Himachal Pradesh 1.971 1.543
11. J&K 2.822 2.181
12. Jharkhand 9.179 7.268
13. Karnataka 11.997 9.500
14. Kerala 5.958 4.718
15. Madhya Pradesh 15.816 12.447
16. Maharashtra 25.053 19.838
17. Manipur 0.636 0.504
18. Meghalaya 0.702 0.556
19. Mizoram 0.261 0.206
20. Nagaland 0.475 0.376
21. Orissa 12.645 10.013
22. Punjab 1.794 0.717
23. Rajasthan 9.321 7.355
24. Sikkim 0.165 0.099
25. Tamil Nadu 18.646 14.765
26. Tripura 1.131 0.679
27. Uttaranchal 1.909 1.145
28. Uttar Pradesh 40.945 32.423
29. West Bengal 19.857 14.207
30. A&N Islands 0.107 0.043
31. Chandigarh 0.088 0.035
32. D&N Haveli 0.069 0.037
33. Daman & Diu 0.015 0.006
34. Lakshdweep 0.012 0.004
35. Pondicherry 0.322 0.255
Total 250.000 182.282
