Ration Card, Aadhaar Card linking deadline extended till September

NEW DELHI : If your ration card is not yet linked to Aadhaar card you can continue to get your quota of foodgrains as the government has extended the deadline of seeding Aadhaar card with ration card till the end of this September.

The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has issued a clarification stating that no ration card of the beneficiaries under public distribution system (PDS) will be cancelled or name of the beneficiaries be deleted on the ground of not possessing an Aadhaar number till September 30, 2020.

There were reports that apportion cards of those without Aadhaar number will be dropped. 

The service has given clear guidelines to all states and association regions (UTs) that no certifiable recipient or family ought to be precluded from entitled standard from claiming food grains. "Their names/apportion cards ought not be erased/dropped distinctly on the ground of not having an Aadhaar number," the service said.

Further, instructions have been issued that food grains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will not be denied due to failure of Aadhaar authentication of beneficiary because of poor biometrics of the beneficiary, issues with network/connectivity/linking or any other technical reasons.

Under the NFSA, the Centre provides 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month to around 80 crore people at a highly subsidised price of ₹2-3 per kg. To provide relief during



the lockdown, the Centre is providing an additional 5 kg of foodgrains per month free of cost. This is for three months period till June.

Referring to the current coronavirus lockdown, the ministry said a pragmatic approach is needed now so that no poor or deserving person or family is denied access to food grains. "In due course linking of Aadhar to the ration card and beneficiaries will ensure that no person entitled to such ration is denied such access," it said.

At present, nearly 90% of all 23.5 crore ration cards are already seeded with the Aadhaar numbers of ration card holders (i.e. at least one member of family). Nearly 85% of all 80 crore beneficiaries have also seeded their Aadhaar number with their respective ration cards.

The government has also started the implementation of the inter-state portability of NFSA ration card holders under 'One Nation One Ration Card' plan to protect the interest of poor and migratory beneficiaries.

"To achieve seamless inter-state portability transactions of a ration card, it is essential to have a centralised repository for maintaining unique ration cards/beneficiaries' data of all states and UTs covered under the NFSA," the statement said.

Therefore, the ministry said that the seeding of Aadhaar numbers becomes critical in establishing a unique record of each eligible ration card holder and beneficiary in the country, so that his or her entitlement is protected.