KOCHI: A total of nearly 1.63 lakh ration cards were deleted in Kerala during 2014-2021 after bogus users were identified through the extensive use of information technology, Parliament was informed on Thursday. Most of the ration cards were deleted in the last two years. While 52,475 duplicate ration cards in the state were deleted in 2020, another 104,511 cards were removed in 2021.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Minister of State for the Rural Development and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, said a total of 4.28 crore ration cards were deleted in the country during the 2014-2021 period.
The ration cards were deleted leveraging the implementation of information technology for Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) reforms under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), digitisation of ration cards/beneficiaries’ data, de-duplication process, permanent migration, deaths, identification of ineligible/duplicate/fake ration cards, etc., the minister said. “However, linking or non-linking of Aadhaar with ration cards is not a criterion for deletion/cancellation of ration cards under NFSA,” he clarified.
Interestingly, while 57 ration cards were deleted in 2014, the next three years -- 2015, 2016, and 2017 -- saw no deletions. In 2018, the number of ration cards deleted stood at 3,314 and 2,543 in 2019. D Sajith Babu, commissioner of civil supplies and consumer affairs, Kerala, said the deletions gathered pace in the last two years because the Aadhaar linking took time in the initial years. “Most of the people holding duplicate cards were eliminated through the use of technology,” he said. Uttar Pradesh saw the largest number of ration card deletions between 2014 and 2021 at 1.70 crore.