13331 - Aadhaar glitches deny rations to 21 lakh Mumbaikars: Congress - The Hindu

MUMBAI

Aadhaar glitches deny rations to 21 lakh Mumbaikars: Congress

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MUMBAI, APRIL 20, 2018 00:55 IST

Congress wants the decision to mandatorily link Aadhaar with ration cards revoked immediately.   | Photo Credit: Ramesh Sharma

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Aadhaar and cash transfers

Linking of cards, faulty machines cost people food: Sanjay Nirupam

Mumbai: Claiming that over 21.82 lakh beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System (PDS) have been left without ration services as their Aadhaar number could not be linked with their ration cards due to technical glitches, Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday said the compulsion of interlinking the two cards should be revoked as per the Supreme Court order.

“From the documents that have been procured by us as recent as April 2018, close to 21.82 lakh beneficiaries have had their ration cards deregistered, simply because their cards were not linked to their Aadhaar. Currently, these people have no way of getting any ration supply. This is contrary to what the Central government says and the government rules. 

The Fadnavis government wants to keep 21.82 lakh Mumbaikars hungry,” said Mr. Nirupam. This, he said, is in contravention to a Supreme Court Order which states that an Aadhaar card cannot be made compulsory to avail of government welfare benefits.

According to the Mumbai Congress chief, the machines given to ration shops do not work. “Those who have registered and linked their Aadhaar with ration cards are also facing acute problems. This is because there is an EPOS machine that has been installed at ration shops which in most cases doesn’t work and it is mandatory for every ration card holder to use the machine in order to buy rations,” he said.

Alleging the supply of faulty machines, Mr. Nirupam said ration shop owners in Thane were returning them to the government.

 “There are issues such as network connectivity; some machines do not work, and thumb prints do not match. At many places the outlets issuing Aadhaar cards have been shut,” he said.

Mr. Nirupam added that the decision to mandatorily link Aadhaar with ration cards should be revoked immediately.

10707 - Civil supplies begins ration card verification in Tamil Nadu - Indian Express

Civil supplies begins ration card verification in Tamil Nadu

By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 11th December 2016 01:41 AM  |  

CHENNAI: Field verification to ensure all ration cards are linked to Aadhaar cards (the Central government’s unique identification scheme) has been started by the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, which looks after the public distribution of food grains through ration shops. This has become imperative when, as per reports,  the number of people covered by ration cards is about 7.81 crore, while the State’s population is 7.21 crore.

This follows close on the heels of the State government agreeing to implement the Union government’s National Food Security Act for civil supplies distribution.

A senior official of the Civil Supplies Corporation said  field verification was started on December 5 to ensure Aadhaar numbers of all ration card holders are seeded into the Public Distribution System (PDS) data base. The survey aims to earmark households in urgent need of being alleviated from poverty, households that have been termed Priority Households (PHH). “This tagging of PHH is to make sure that people, who most need supplies, benefit from other targeted schemes such as Annapurna Yojana,” said the official.

Contrary to a targeted PDS for people Below Poverty Line (BPL) that is followed in most States across the country, Tamil Nadu follows a universal system where everybody is entitled to basic fair-price supplies.

This earmarking will not deprive anybody of the ration they receive from PDS outlets, the official clarified.

Door-to-door identification of PHH will eliminate bogus card-holders. Deceased members of families, citizens who have migrated to other states or other districts within the same State, married card-holders whose name still exists on their old family card and people who hold multiple cards with different residences will be removed from the database.

“The linking of Aadhaar number with the ration family card will make sure that one person receives only one unit of basic supplies from the system,” the official said.

So far, over 6.5 crore card holders have linked their Aadhaar cards with the family ration card. This field verification will ensure that the remaining are included too. Data from this survey will be used for the benefit of smart-cards that will be used at point-of-sale machines installed in all fair-price shops across the State. These  point-of-sale machines maintain a digital track of distribution and stock.

10546 - Ram Vilas Paswan says about 70% of ration cards are linked with Aadhaar - Live Mint

 Tue, Oct 18 2016. 09 45 PM IST

Ram Vilas Paswan says about 70% of ration cards are linked with Aadhaar

More than 81 crore people have received subsidies under Food Security Act and very soon, beneficiaries nationwide except in Tamil Nadu will start receiving them, says food minister

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Suranjana Roy

Food minister Ram Vilas Paswan had earlier said that the ministry had given an ultimatum to Kerala and Tamil Nadu on implementing the National Food Security Act at the earliest. File photo: Mint

New Delhi: Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday said about 70% of ration cards have been linked with Aadhaar till now, while 100% digitization of ration cards has been completed. More than 81 crore people have received subsidies under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and very soon, beneficiaries nationwide except in Tamil Nadu will start receiving them.

The food minister was addressing the regional editors’ conference in Chandigarh. He had earlier said that the ministry had given an ultimatum to Kerala and Tamil Nadu on implementing the NFSA at the earliest, when he attended a gathering of state food secretaries in the capital last month.

The Centre is using Aadhaar, the unique identity number, to cut down on leakages in food grains and is focussing on end-to-end computerization of the targeted public distribution system (TPDS), India’s largest subsidy programme mandated under the NFSA, 2013.

Under the end-to-end computerisation system, the state government can track the movement and distribution of food grains to ensure it reaches only the genuine beneficiaries. A total of 2.33 crore bogus ration cards have already been deleted in 27 states till now.

Suranjana Roy

10455 - Govt to link all ration cards to Aadhaar by end-FY17 - Business Standard

Govt to link all ration cards to Aadhaar by end-FY17

Fingerprint failure reports of existing Aadhaar-linked PDS cases not revealed

Nitin Sethi 

September 17, 2016 Last Updated at 00:23 IST

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has decided to complete the linking the bank accounts to Aadhaar numbers of all the beneficiaries of large social schemes, including the National Food Security Act, by March 2017. Once done, the delivery of these schemes would be based on biometric authentication linked to Aadhaar or direct cash transfers to linked bank accounts of beneficiaries.

The directions came after a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office in June this year to link not only cash-based benefits but also those in kind under different central schemes to Aadhaar. Since then, the Centre has repeatedly written to states to make the transition. Business Standard has reviewed the minutes of the meeting as well as the Centre's missives to states.

On Thursday, the government moved a step closer to making the use of Aadhaar mandatory. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) sent out a circular asking all government authorities in the Centre and states to identify schemes, benefits and processes where the Aadhaar platform would be made compulsory.

But, the results of deploying Aadhaar-based biometric authentication in the public distribution system (PDS) across a few states are yet to be made public by the central government, leaving states to divulge data, if they wish, in different formats. Some of these states have reported relatively high failure rates at times.

A B Pandey, chief executive officer of UIDAI, said the authority did not reveal the reports on how the biometric authentication was working although it collects these reports for each entity using the Aadhaar-linked authentication system.

The ministry for food did not reply to a detailed questionnaire asking for data on the efficacy of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication from states and districts where it has already been deployed in complete or in pilot study mode. Andhra Pradesh, one of the early movers, has put 28,000 ration shops on the Aadhaar platform. Pandey said it now showed 4-5 per cent failure rate.

Rajasthan is the other state that has put all its ration shops on the platform. Assessment done by MAZDOOR KISAN SHAKTI SANGATHAN showed that in the state less than 65 per cent of the people on average were availing rations through the biometric authentication. The data did not reveal how the rest had accessed their rations though the systems provide for a manual over-ride which remain as leak-prone as the earlier non-computerised system followed earlier of maintain registers.

Replying to an answer in the Parliament on the failure in Rajasthan, the state minister for finance, Arjun Ram Meghwal, had recently said UIDAI concluded the lack of infrastructure was to blame. This included insufficient lease-line capacity between servers of Rajasthan government and UIDAI Data Centres, poor mobile signal at fair price shops, incorrect seeding of Aadhaar numbers in PDS database and insufficient number of Iris devices to deal with the cases of poor finger print quality.

The UIDAI chief admitted in an interview to Business Standard that Andhra Pradesh had managed lower failure rates after a lot of effort and that states with worse infrastructure would find it more difficult, though he narrowed the list of such states down to northeast.

Last year the central government had given the states only two choices. Either they had to move on to the Aadhaar-linked authentication system for distribution of grains or turn the subsidised food supply to cash transfers. At that stage it had asked that states carry out pilots. Some like Jharkhand have. In Ranchi all the ration shops were put on the platform but less than 50 per cent of the people got their rations through biometric authentication in July 2016 (the month for which data was available for analysis), wrote economist Jean Dreze recently.

In its defence, the UIDAI CEO says protocols exist to manage when biometric authentication fails. A fall back option is deploying Iris reading machines, but these are only recommended and not made mandatory. Reverting back to manual override on the machines, which is also available, on the other hand brings the system back to pre-computerisation days. UIDAI says it is taking teams from other states to Andhra Pradesh to learn lessons.

The centre is holding a two day meeting of state officials on Friday and Saturday on computerisation of the public distribution system in which several sessions are dedicated to linking the provision of subsidised rations to the Aadhaar platform.

Directives on advancing Aadhaar-linked benefits

1-All central cash or kind benefit schemes to be brought under DBT by end of fiscal

2-Seeding of aadhaar in schemes like MNREGA, PDS, Scholarships, PMJDY, Pensions, EPFO to be completed by March 2017

3-Grants to state under ICDS, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal Scheme could be linked to Aadhaar enrolment

4-Enrolment of children in Anganwadi and schools to enhance coverage in this segment

5-Payment to para-teachers, ASHA and anganwadi workers to be made through Aadhaar

6-‘Give up Subsidy’ push to be extended to other schemes

7-Concessions in railways to be linked up

8-Aadhaar number of individuals and office bearers of entities to be obtained in Income Tax Returns

9-Study to assess cash in lieu of kind benefits under PDS to be undertaken

10-Automated system to disqualify beneficiaries when they get government jobs or reach cut-off income levels

Visualised by: Aditya Laxman Jakki

10358 - “Give Aadhaar card numbers to ration shop staff”

NAGAPATTINAM, August 25, 2016

“Give Aadhaar card numbers to ration shop staff”

“SUBMIT AADHAAR NUMBERS”

Details of about 3.62 lakh ration cardholders have so far been entered in the Point of Sales machines in ration shops as part of the computerisation of the public distribution system in the district. The district has a total of 4,54,321 cardholders, Collector S.Palanisamy said in a press release.

The cardholders are required to provide their mobile phone numbers and Aadhaar card numbers. About 59 per cent of cardholders’ mobile phone numbers have been registered so far. However, only 14 per cent of the cardholders have provided their Aadhaar numbers, which are required to issue smart cards. He urged cardholders to submit the numbers at the earliest.

10295 - Drive to link Aadhaar with ration card in full swing at ration shops in district - TNN

Drive to link Aadhaar with ration card in full swing at ration shops in district

TNN | Aug 1, 2016, 06.36 AM IST

Trichy: The scanning of aadhaar cards is in full swing at all the 1,211 ration shops in the district in the last few days. Though the move has been aimed at collecting the unique identification number of the card holders for making smart cards that is expected to be issued from January 2017, the move will also help in weeding out bogus ration cards. 

The process of scanning Aadhaar cards of all the 7,83,493 ration card holders in the district commenced on August 24. The process will go on till August 10.

The purpose of gathering the Aadhaar details is to ensure that there will be no mismatch in the database. 

A couple of months back, the consumer protection and civil supplies department had collected the Aadhaar details and linked them to the ration card. They also updated the mobile number of the ration card holders to send the bills through SMS to replace paper bills.

Sources said that the manual entry of the Aadhaar numbers led to some errors in the database as the staff responsible for making the entries made the error. As a result, the move to single out bogus ration cards could not be achieved. 

In this context the consumer protection and civil supplies department asked the consumers to re-submit the Aadhaar cards to enable the staff to scan them through electronic point of sale (E-POS) machines which have been provided to all the shops.

"Since one Aadhaar card can only be linked to one ration card, bogus card holders will not be able to misuse the system," said district supply officer, Trichy, M Velumani.

10216 - Over 1 crore link Aadhaar with ration cards - The Hindu

CHENNAI, July 15, 2016

Over 1 crore link Aadhaar with ration cards

Over one crore persons in the State have linked their Aadhaar numbers with their ration card entries. Now officials of the Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department are busy linking the customers’ Aadhaar number with their mobile number to create a database for smart cards.

Linking Aadhaar number with ration card details would go a long way in curbing irregularities in the public distribution system and pilferage of commodities.

“Of the seven crore persons in the State, about one crore have linked their Aadhaar numbers with their entries in ration cards. As more ‘Point of Sale’ (POS) machines are installed, the work is set to pick up pace,” a senior official said. At present, about 11,000 POS machines are in use, mostly in the southern districts in the State and another 22,000 machines are set to come from China.

“As per the agreement, the machines are to be supplied by the end of this month.” According to the Directorate of Census Operations, about 87.53 per cent of the population in the State have Aadhaar number.

“Biometrics have been collected from about 6.87 crore persons, which is about 95.32 per cent, whereas Aadhaar numbers have been generated for about 6.31 crore persons,” said M.R.V. Krishna Rao, Joint Director in the Directorate of Census Operations in Chennai.

This will help in creating a

database for smart cards, check

pilferage in PDS

10194 - Ration supply stopped to 15 lakh Aadhaar cardholders Found using card at multiple depots across the state - Tribune India

Posted at: Jul 6, 2016, 12:50 AM; last updated: Jul 6, 2016, 12:50 AM (IST)

Ration supply stopped to 15 lakh Aadhaar cardholders

Found using card at multiple depots across the state

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, July 5

The linking of ration cards with Aadhaar has hit a major roadblock as over 15 lakh duplicate Aadhaar number holders have been detected in the state. The Food and Civil Supplies Department has stopped the supply of ration under the public distribution system (PDS) to such beneficiaries.

A total of 1.32 crore people are enrolled under the PDS in the state. The process is being undertaken under the National Food Security Act, 2013, to eliminate fake beneficiaries and bringing transparency in the PDS.

The department said 88 per cent of the total ration cards had been linked to the Aadhaar under the Aadhaar seeding of the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) by July 4. However, it has been found that one Aadhaar number has been provided more than once in a large number of cases, which led to duplicity or repetition of the same Aadhaar number.

Though the officials have failed to detect the exact reason, there seems to be a possibility that individuals have more than one ration card and provided same Aadhaar at other ration depots. There is also a possibility of error by the data entry operators.

“There are instances where one Aadhaar number is being used at multiple places by the ration cardholders. We got all the Aadhaar numbers checked by the National Informatics Centre at the headquarters, which has detected this faux pas,” said Subhash Chander Sihag, Hisar District Food and Supplies Commissioner (DFSC).

NK Mittal, Deputy Director, Food and Civil Supplies, Chandigarh, however, said the error was being rectified by procuring documents from such persons who had furnished same Aadhaar numbers. “Ration cardholders will not get any supply till they provide valid Aadhaar numbers,” he said.

An NIC official said there was zero scope of any error in preparing Aadhaar cards. “It is impossible that one Aadhaar number is issued to two individuals. The mistake occurred either in the feeding of number or individuals deliberately used the same number at more than one place,” he said.

10164 - Food dept focuses on linking Aadhaar with ration cards - TNN

Food dept focuses on linking Aadhaar with ration cards

TNN | Jun 26, 2016, 12.28 PM IST

Mangaluru: The department of food and civil supplies has made linking of Aadhaar cards to ration cards a top priority. This comes in the wake of the Union government taking on itself the mission of ridding bogus ration cards and ensuring equitable distribution of public distribution system foodgrains to targeted beneficiaries. 

The department has taken up the drive as per section 7 of the Targeted Delivery of Finance and Aadhaar Subsidies, Benefits and Services Act, 2016.

Incidentally, this was one of the big ticket reforms that Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted to mark the completion of two years of his government in May. Union minister of state for commerce (independent charge) Nirmala Sitharaman at the recent Vikas Parva rally here had pointed out that the Centre had saved nearly Rs 36,000 crore by way of weeding out bogus ration cards. This is helping the Centre ensure that the needy actually end up getting PDS benefits, she said.

Such has been the focus of the department on implementing the above act that it has temporarily put on hold issuing new ration cards till such time that above process (Aadhaar linkage) is completed. Raju Mogaveera, in-charge deputy director of the department, said the department has completed the process up to 89% and will complete linking the rest of the ration cards with respective cards at the earliest. "We are focusing our energies on this issue," he told STOI.

The department has issued 1,94,606 fresh cards in DK in the last three years since May 2013. This includes 15,663 AAY cards, 81,295 BPL cards and 97,678 APL cards to go with existing cards already issued in the above three categories. This ranks for among the highest number of cards distributed in the state, he said.

Adding even the commissioner of the department has instructed all deputy directors to complete the linking process at the earliest.

10163 - 'Aadhaar nos of all members must for smart ration card' - New Indian Express

'Aadhaar nos of all members must for smart ration card'

By Express News Service

Published: 26th June 2016 05:01 A

MADURAI: Aadhaar numbers of all family members whose names are there in ration cards should be produced at the ration shops to be eligible for smart ration card, said S Gopalakrishnan, Principal Secretary and Commissioner, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, here on Saturday.

Speaking at a review meeting at the Collectorate on the ongoing linking of Aadhaar cards with ration cards, Gopalakrishnan said that the details of ration card holders, such as mobile number, type of card and number of persons in the family are being linked through an electronic device called Point of Sale (POS) at ration shops. “In addition, Aadhaar card numbers of all the family members on the ration card should be produced at the ration shops,” he categorically stated.

Stating that the linking process will eliminate maintenance of records such as A, B and Sitta registers by ration shop employees, Gopalakrishnan said that based on the records updated in the POS device, the government will initiate the process to issue smart ration cards.

Of the 9,37,005 card holders in the district, 50 per cent had updated their mobile numbers and 21 per cent had updated their Aadhaar card numbers. Ration card holders will receive SMS alerts for every purchase made at the shops, said Gopalakrishnan.

Though the updating began on June 1, the linking process failed to gain momentum with the civil supplies department declaring at the eleventh hour that photocopies of e-Aadhaar cards would not be accepted.

As it is, thousands of people who did not receive the Aadhaar cards are finding it extremely difficult to get the plastic Aadhaar cards at the e-service centres, courtesy technical problems and shortage of employees. The new decision to enroll the Aadhaar numbers of all the family members has compounded their woes.

Commenting on this, R Jeeva, District Supply Officer, said photocopy of the e-Aadhaar card had to be scanned to be linked with the POS device. “Necessary instructions will be given to the employees at the ration shops to accept the e-Aadhaar cards. Card holders should approach e-service centres to get Aadhaar card for their family members. We hope to complete the entire process before July 30,” she said.

“Necessary steps have been taken to fix the technical problems at the e-service centres. Additional staff will be employed,” Collector K Veera Raghava Rao said.

10124 - Govt goes after ghost ration card network to check leakage of foodgrain - India Today

Govt goes after ghost ration card network to check leakage of foodgrain

Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said leakage of grains was prevalent in the UPA regime due to bogus ration cards and corruption in the department.

Kumar Vikram  | Posted by Bijaya Kumar Das

New Delhi, June 10, 2016 | UPDATED 09:31 IST

Deleting about 1.62 crore bogus ration cards and streamlining the public distribution system in the country have saved around Rs 10,000 crore of public money in last two years of the Narendra Modi government.

RAM VILAS PASWAN BLAMES UPA

Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, said leakage of grains were prevalent in the UPA regime due to bogus ration cards and corruption in the department. "Now, this has stopped after 100 per cent digitisation of ration cards. During the process of digitisation, we found crores of bogus ration cards. There were many ration cards on the name of one person. Similarly, in some cases, there were ration cards on the names of people who do not even exist. We found total 1.62 crore such bogus ration cards which have been deleted now," said the minister.

Digitisation of ration cards has been completed in all the states. The number of states and union territories with online foodgrain allocations increased to 25, from 5 in June 2014, and the online grievance redressal has now been introduced by all the states.

SEEDING OF RATION CARDS WITH AADHAAR CARDS

Moreover, Aadhaar seeding of ration cards has also been of great help to beneficiaries. "So far, about 56 per cent of ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar. All these digitisation and seeding with Aadhaar have helped check the leakage of foodgrain and in saving `10,000 crore of public money," said Paswan.

While most of the states have completed seeding of ration cards with the Aadhaar cards, states like Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, UP and a few others are behind in this exercise.

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CONGRESS COUNTERS CLAIM

Countering the claim, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said UPA had also weeded out a large number of bogus ration cards and there is nothing great about it. "Actually 66 lakh so-called fake deletions include those cards which are not fake but where the person has moved from the eligibility to beyond eligibility.

So, that is not a fake card, even that is included in 66 lakhs. What is great about it? A press release in December 2015 said in 2012 to 2014, 1.2 crore ration cards were deleted by the UPA government. I do not know how to drumbeat."

'DEPOT ONLINE' SYSTEM LAUNCHED

To check the leakage of foodgrain from the FCI godowns, all operations of the godowns have been brought on the online platform, claimed Paswan. "To check leakage and to automate operations at the depot level, the 'Depot Online' system has been launched in 31 depots on pilot basis across 27 states," he said.

On rising prices of commodities, Paswan said the price monitoring cell (PMC) in the department of consumer affairs is tasked with monitoring the prices of 22 essential commodities. Based on the retail and wholesale prices collected from 89 designated centres, price reports of these items on daily basis are released.

To control the rising prices, in 2015-16, Rs 00 crore was allocated for the price stabilisation fund which was subsequently raised to Rs 10 crore. For the financial year 2016-17, an allocation of Rs 00 crore has been made.

10123 - Food for people who do not exist': Government deletes 1.62 crore bogus ration cards, saving Rs 10,000 crore of public money - Daily Mail UK

Food for people who do not exist': Government deletes 1.62 crore bogus ration cards, saving Rs 10,000 crore of public money

By KUMAR VIKRAM

PUBLISHED: 10:15 EST, 10 June 2016 

Over the last two years, the Narendra Modi government has saved around Rs 10,000 crore of public money by deleting 1.62 crore bogus ration cards and streamlining the public distribution system.

Ram Vilas Paswan, minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, said the grain leakage seen under the UPA regime was due to bogus ration cards, and corruption in the department.

Paswan said: “Now, this has stopped after 100 per cent digitisation of ration cards. During the process of digitisation, we found crores of bogus ration cards. There were many ration cards in the name of one person.

Digitisation of ration cards has been completed in all states, allowing the government to delete all duplicates

"Similarly, in some cases, there were ration cards with the names of people who do not even exist. We found total 1.62 crore such bogus ration cards which have been deleted now,” said the minister.

Digitisation of ration cards has been completed in all states.

The number of states and union territories with online food-grain allocations has increased to 25, from 5 in June 2014, and the online grievance portal has now been introduced across all states. 

Aadhaar Identity Card

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a central government agency of India, and its objective is to collect the biometric and demographic data of residents. This is then stored in a centralised database, 

Each resident is then issued with a unique 12-digit identity number. Aadhaar is considered the world's largest national identification number project.

“So far, about 56 per cent of ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar. This digitisation and the seeding with Aadhaar has helped check the leakage of food-grain and in doing so saved Rs 10,000 crore of public money,” said Paswan.

While most of the states have completed seeding ration cards with the Aadhaar cards, states like Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, UP and others are lagging behind.

Countering the claim, Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the UPA had also weeded out a large number of bogus ration cards and there is nothing great about it.

“Actually 66 lakh so-called fake deletions include those cards which are not fake but where the person has moved from the eligibility to beyond eligibility. So, that is not a fake card, even that is included in 66 lakhs. What is great about it? A press release in December 2015 said in 2012 to 2014, 1.2 crore ration cards were deleted by the UPA government.”

To check the leakage of food-grain from the FCI godowns, all operations of the go-downs have been brought to the online platform, claimed Paswan.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3633982/Food-people-not-exist-Government-deletes-1-62-crore-bogus-ration-cards-saving-Rs-10-000-crore-public-money.html#ixzz4BMsksc2F 

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9989 - 83 p.c. beneficiaries link Aadhaar with ration cards - Hindu

MYSURU, May 15, 2016

83 p.c. beneficiaries link Aadhaar with ration cards

Foolproof system:The State government initiated the move to link the cards to weed out bogus PDS beneficiaries.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

‘Failure to comply with month-end deadline will result in suspension of cards’

Over 83 per cent of beneficiaries in Mysuru district have linked their Aadhaar card with ration card, even as the State government has extended the deadline to May 31.

Earlier the government had set the May-15 deadline. Most cardholders in rural areas linked their cards, while those in urban areas, most of whom are APL (Above Poverty Level) cardholders, are indifferent to it.

K. Rameshwarappa, Deputy Director, Department of Food and Civil Supplies, told The Hindu that failing to comply with the deadline would result in suspension of cards and the beneficiaries would have to forfeit their entitlements to foodgrains under the public distribution system. “But it would be restored once the Aadhaar number is seeded with the ration card,” he added.

The State government had initiated the move to redesign the public distribution system to ensure a transparent and foolproof system of barcoded ration cards linked to Aadhaar cards. The chief aim of this initiative is to weed out bogus PDS beneficiaries. It also helps authorities collate information on the number of beneficiaries under different types of ration cards.

The government opted for Aadhaar cards for added security in the wake of increased scams and frauds in ration cards, and misuse of foodgrains being distributed under PDS.

There are two ways of linking Aadhaar card to ration cards: one being the online/offline method. Under the offline procedure, the cardholder has to submit the photocopies of the required documents i.e. their aadhaar card and ration card to the fair price shop. And under the online procedure, cardholders can visithttp://rasf.uidai.gov.in/seeding/User/ResidentselfSeedingpds.aspx. Cardholders can do so by sending an SMS to 9731979899.

Mr. Rameshwarappa said that beneficiaries of rural places may visit the gram panchayath offices to link their cards and people in urban places may have to visit KarnatakaOne or MysuruOne.

The department had succeeded in eliminating over 1,04,000 bogus cardholders.

9898 - 16 lakh beneficiaries yet to link Aadhaar with ration cards - The Hindu

MANDYA, April 28, 2016

16 lakh beneficiaries yet to link Aadhaar with ration cards

M.T.Shiva Kumar

Educating the public:Deputy Director of Department of Food and Civil Supplies Kumuda Sharath on an Aadhaar awareness drive in Nagamangala taluk of Mandya district on Wednesday.

Even with the deadline of May 15 fast approaching, there seems to be no hurry among residents in the district to link their Aadhaar numbers with ration card details.

Linking Aadhaar numbers with ration cards was one of the measures introduced to weed out bogus ration cards. The Supreme Court has also allowed the use of Aadhaar identities for the Public Distribution System (PDS) system and the State government had directed the ration card beneficiaries to link the details before May 15.

Nevertheless, less than 25 per cent of beneficiaries have linked their Aadhaar numbers with the PDS system in Mandya district.

According to Kumuda Sharath, Deputy Director, Department of Food and Civil Supplies, the number of ration cards distributed in all seven taluks in the district is 5.03 lakh, while the number of PDS beneficiaries is around 20.40 lakh.

Of the total beneficiaries, around 16 lakh have not linked their Aadhaar numbers, Ms. Sharath said.

Speaking to The Hindu here on Wednesday, she said that her department has launched special drives to create awareness among the public on linking the details. “Aadhaar is transparent and accountable. The linkage is an effective way of weeding out bogus cards. Hence, the beneficiaries should cooperate with the department to accomplish the task,” she said.

Those not submitting details would face difficulties in receiving the benefits in future, Ms. Sharath added.

She conducted public meetings at Nagamangala and Pandavapura on Wednesday and distributed publicity material.

Every ration card holder, including children, has to submit the Aadhaar card details to the agencies concerned on or before May 15, Deputy Commissioner M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan said.

Benefits

The department is supplying around 1 lakh tonnes of paddy, ragi and maize to PDS beneficiaries through 726 fair price shops in the district. The supply of kerosene is 1,600 KL a month.

Helpline

The beneficiaries can collect further details by calling toll-free numbers 1947 and 1967. They can visit local gram panchayats, Atalji Janasnehi Kendra, Nada Kacheri, taluk offices or the food and civil supplies department to get their Aadhaar numbers linked.

Those not submitting details would face difficulties in receiving benefits in the future

9815 - Project to link Aadhaar with ration cards faces snags in Roorkee - TNN

Project to link Aadhaar with ration cards faces snags in Roorkee

Tapan Susheel | TNN | Apr 10, 2016, 10.05 PM IST

Roorkee: The Haridwar food and civil supplies department is faced with a Herculean task to renew the ration cards in Roorkee region. With the deadline of March 31 long past, only 30% of the target has been achieved. Now the department has set April 30 deadline to complete the project. Under the state food security scheme, the work for renewal of ration cards is in progress. The objective is to ensure transparency in distribution of food grains through fair price shops (FPS). Various subsidies are given by the government on different commodities at FPS. So, the ration cards are being linked with the Aadhaar cards and bank accounts. After this arrangement is over, the subsidy will be transferred directly into the account of the ration card holder. The government has decided to issue the new ration card in the name of a woman of each family. The challenge that the government officials are facing in renewing the cards is that most of the women don't have bank accounts. Most of them also don't have Aadhaar cards. "As new ration cards are to be issued in the name of a woman from every family, it is main reason behind the slow pace of our work. Women, mainly from rural areas, are generally reluctant to get their Aadhaar cards and bank account formalities completed," said MS Rawat, regional food supply officer. "There was March 31 deadline set for completion of the work of renewal of the ration cards. Now, this deadline has been extended till April 30 due to huge backlog of the work. We have just 30% ration cards renewed as yet in Roorkee region," he told TOI. The local food supply department has renewed 90,000 ration cards so far in the Roorkee region, which includes the city and the block

9398 - To meet March deadline, admin turns to colleges for Aadhaar-seeding of PDS - Indian Express

To meet March deadline, admin turns to colleges for Aadhaar-seeding of PDS - 

The district has so far managed to complete the process for only 30 lakh of the total 54 lakh beneficiaries.

In an attempt to meet the March-end deadline to link ration cards with Aadhaar cards to weed out bogus beneficiaries, the Pune district administration has now turned to colleges and computer institutes to help them feed data of beneficiaries

The district has so far managed to complete the process for only 30 lakh of the total 54 lakh beneficiaries in the district.

Now, the district administration has written to all colleges and computer institutes to help it with data entry.

“We need more machines, terminals and manpower to help bridge the huge gap. We are reaching out to colleges to help us out as our manpower is not enough,” said district collector Saurabh Rao.

The district administration has already tied up with a number of computer institutes and colleges in Maval, Khed, Baramati and Shirur tehsils of the district.

Earlier, the state was given time till December 31 last year to digitise date on food procurement system, godowns, ration cards, supply chain and open transparency portals and seed Aadhaar card data. The new deadline is March 2016. All districts have been given an ultimatum that there would be no further extension.

Besides seeking help from students, the district administration is also encouraging people to go online and register themselves on the FDO website.

The collector said there were nearly 10 lakh beneficiaries whose names would likely be deleted from the list by the first week of March after following due procedure. These may include beneficiaries who have shifted or are dead.

The district has been divided into eight zones and all fair price shops will be checked for the list of beneficiaries and their linkages with Aadhaar cards.

The Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is aiming big on Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, which it plans to roll out at all fair price shops across the country by 2016-end.

86% Aadhaar card coverage in district

The Aadhaar card enrollment too is on till March 31 and the administration is again finding it hard with just 350 machines against the request of 1,000. The district presently has an Aadhaar card coverage of 86 per cent. The existing machines are mainly used in anganwadis which are believed to have nearly 12 lakh children. Earlier, child development officers were in-charge of the process, but since they were not able to manage, revenue officers have been deployed to complete the job.

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/to-meet-march-deadline-admin-turns-to-colleges-for-aadhaar-seeding-of-pds/#sthash.h2Wk3tUx.dpuf

9332 - Special camps in housing societies for Aadhaar seeding - TNN

Special camps in housing societies for Aadhaar seeding

Sarang Dastane | TNN | Feb 9, 2016, 01.08 AM IST

Pune: The district authorities are now targeting housing societies to increase seeding of Aadhaar details with ration cards.

In a recent drive, the administration set up camps in 20 housing societies in the Sinhagad Road area to collect on-the-spot information of ration cards from residents. Similar camps will be set up in more areas in a phased manner, as over 40% of the ration card holders in the city are still to submit details despite repeated appeals. The deadline to submit details ended on December 31, 2015.

The foodgrain distribution office (FDO), which is monitoring the drive, said the decision to go to the doorsteps of residents to obtain details was taken up following unsatisfactory response from ration card holders.

A senior official said, "Despite repeated appeals, very few ration card holders turned up with required details, which prompted us to reach out to the people. The office has found the special camp initiative effective. In our very first attempt, details of over 1,000 ration cord holders were collected. The drive is likely to go to Chinchwad next week and then to other areas in a phased manner."

The official said the teams were following an easy process - the camp works for a maximum of two days at one location. On the first day, the volunteers visit every home in the society located nearby to hand over application forms. The ration card holders are expected to fill the details and give back the forms to volunteers or at the camp site by evening or the next day.

The official said the housing societies can contact the FDO for setting up camps in their localities.

Meanwhile, the FDO has also put up a website (www.fdopune.com) to help ration card holders submit Aadhaar details through the online process.

9327 - Indian gov’t to link food ration cards to Aadhaar - Biometric Update

Indian gov’t to link food ration cards to Aadhaar

By Rawlson King

February 4, 2016 - 

The Indian government has announced that it intends to update its ration card system so that it can take advantage of Aadhaar.

Aadhaar is the 12-digit unique identification number issued by the Indian government to every individual resident of India. The Aadhaar project aims to provide a single, unique identifier which captures all the demographic and biometric details of every Indian resident. Currently, Aadhaar has issued over 900 million Aadhaar numbers, and has enrolled approximately 850 million people, with a goal of ultimately enrolling 1.28 billion people.

According to a report in the Indian Express, India’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat says that the national government is planning on providing real-time online updates on ration card credits which will be linked to the Aadhaar authentication system.

“Online updation of ration card holders would give us the correct picture and Aadhaar seeding would definitely ensure better transparency,” Bapat told the Indian Express concerning his department’s new measures. “We will ensure that the updation is completed at the earliest and biometric ration cards are rolled out soon.’’

Bapat noted that online updation would increase transparency in the system and work to reduce the level of ration card fraud in the country. The minister argues that by linking the ration card system to Aadhaar, a greater level of security will can be achieved and that the system will be easier for the public service to manage.

Bapat said that once the ration card system is linked to Aadhaar and fully computerized, bogus cards would be invalided.

India’s Department of Food & Public Distribution estimates that linking the ration card system to Aadhaar will save 30 percent of food grain inventories from being fraudulently distributed under the country’s public distribution system (PDS).

PDS, India’s food security system, is maintained by both the national and state governments in India. The program distributes subsidized food and non-food items to India’s poor. 

This scheme was launched in India on June 1997. Major commodities distributed include staple food grains, such as wheat, rice, sugar, and kerosene. The foodstuffs are distributed through a network of fair price shops (also known as ration shops), established in several states across the country.

Under the PDS scheme, each family below the poverty line is eligible for 35 kg of rice or wheat every month, while a household above the poverty line is entitled to 15 kg of food grain on a monthly basis. As of date there are about 500,000 fair price shops (FPS) across India. The system costs India’s treasury US$13.6 billion per year, almost one percent of the country’s GDP.

9249 - 'Aadhaar-ration card linking by March' - TNN

'Aadhaar-ration card linking by March'

TNN | Jan 9, 2016, 03.19 PM IST

Jamshedpur: Parliamentary affairs and food supply minister Saryu Rai on Friday said the ongoing Aadhaar-ration card linking process will be complete by mid-March. He was addressing a press meet at Circuit House. So far, around 60 lakh residents' ration cards have been linked to their Aadhaar cards.

Rai said the state food and public distribution department has convened a meeting in Ranchi on January 12 to dicuss the issues related to the implementation of the National Food Safety Act (NFSA).

"Food and public distribution officials, FSA activists, PDS experts and other stakeholders have been invited to the meeting to come up with a uniform approach to plug the loopholes for the effective and smooth implementation of FSA in the state," said Rai. He added that at least 51 lakh applications have been received for new ration cards, with the department expecting more applications by January 31 - the deadline for submission of applications.

Rai said the state will seek the cooperation of assembly committees in addressing the shortcomings related to FSA implementation in districts.

"Currently, there are 21 state assembly committees (constituted for monitoring public welfare schemes and projects). Their assistance will be sought for ensuring the redressal of issues hindering FSA implementation in Jharkhand," said Rai, adding that technology can check corruption in the system.

"I have undertaken a long-term task of modernizing and upgrading system to ensure transparency," said Rai.

"Around 80% of the state's population (about 3.5 crore) have been covered under FSA," Of the remaining 20%, 10% are unlikely to avail ration from PDS. This leaves out 10% of people. I hope my proposal is considered," Rai said.

9242 - HARYANA GOVT TO AADHAAR-LINK ALL NEW RATION CARDS - Daily Pioneer

HARYANA GOVT TO AADHAAR-LINK ALL NEW RATION CARDS

Thursday, 07 January 2016 | PNS | Chandigarh | in Chandigarh

Haryana Government has decided to Aadhaar-link all new ration cards to be issued under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

The State Minister of State for Food and Supplies Karan Dev Kamboj on Wednesday said that the process of making online ration cards was making progress and the de-duplication procedure would be completed by the end of this month.

Describing well targeted and properly functioning public distribution system (PDS) as a key constituent of food security, Kamboj said that digitization and certification of more than 29.4 lakh families had already been carried out. Master data of 9,355 fair price shops and 441 godowns has been entered and the portal haryanafood.gov.in is being updated regularly.

The Department is also implementing FEAST software and supply chain management for making online allocations. Department officials are being imparted training in software and e-PDS, said he.

While online allocation has started this month, the supply chain management would be implemented in April, 2016.

He said that an integrated model had been finalised for automation of the fair price shops in the State. From October, 2015, commodities are being disbursed to the beneficiaries after Aadhar-based biometric certification through 20 fair price shops.