GUWAHATI: The Central Government took a policy decision to seed Aadhaar cards with ration cards under the NFSA (National Food Security Act) to check leakage of food grains and ghost beneficiaries under the Act. However, in Assam, as many as 4,81,051 beneficiaries involving 31,790 ration cards have not yet seeded their Aadhaar cards with their ration cards.
According to the NFSA database, Assam has 62,70,814 ration cards, involving 2,20,35,418 beneficiaries, including both the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH). The number of Aadhaar-seeded ration cards in the state is 62,39,024, involving 2,15,54,367 beneficiaries. The State Government appealed to the ration cardholders of the state to link their Aadhaar cards with their ration cards to ensure uninterrupted flow of food grains as per the guidelines of the Government of India. The government also appealed to the beneficiaries to seed their mobile numbers with their ration cards. This is also yet to be completed in the state. As many as 61,38,888 of 62,70,814 cards had their mobile numbers seeded so far.
Meanwhile, the state government has decided to issue 40 lakh new ration cards in the state this year. And the state government raised the annual income cap for ration cards up to Rs 4 lakh from Rs 2.50 lakh. The State Food, Public Distribution, and Consumer Affairs (FPDCA) department is looking into the matter. This department had the name Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs earlier.
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