Question : Complaints on Denial of Ration

(a) whether the Union Government has received complaints/representations from poor PDS beneficiaries for not getting food items due to non-possession of Aadhaar cards or not linking the ration cards to aadhaar cards on non matching of thumb/finger impression in various States across the country, if so, the facts and details thereof, State-wise;
(b) whether the Union Government has given/issued any instructions/ guidelines to various States/UTs not to deny PDS benefits to those who does not have Aadhaar or not linked ration card to biometric identifier and warned them of strict action for violation;
(c) if so, the details thereof and the extent to which the instructions/guidelines issued in this regard by the Union Government are properly adhered to by the various State Governments/UTs;
(d) whether it is also true that the Government has also asked the State Governments not to delete eligible households from the list of beneficiaries for non-possession of Aadhaar, if so, the details thereof; and
(e) whether the Government would issue instructions to provide rations to elderly persons whose fingerprints are not read by the machine and to other eligible persons who for other reasons are not given rations?

Answer given by the minister

MINISTER OF STATE FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)
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(a) to (e): A few reports have of late appeared in the media citing non-linking of Aadhaar with Ration Cards as one of the reasons for difficulties faced by the beneficiaries under National Food Security Act [NFSA] in getting their entitled quota of foodgrains.
Therefore, this Department has issued clear instructions to all States/UTs that no beneficiary/household shall be deleted from the list of eligible beneficiaries/households only on the ground of not possessing Aadhaar, and shall also not be denied for subsidized foodgrains or cash transfer of food subsidy under NFSA due to non-availability of Aadhaar or failure of biometric authentication due to network/ connectivity/ linking issues/ poor biometric of the beneficiary or other technical reasons. The instructions are applicable to all the beneficiaries including elderly beneficiaries.
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