HYDERABAD: The Cabinet sub-committee constituted to examine and recommend the eligibility criteria for issuing new ration cards on Saturday decided in principle to fix annual income limit of Rs 1.5 lakh in rural areas or Rs 2 lakh in urban areas, or ownership of less than 3.5 acres of wetland or 7.5 acres of dryland.
Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy leads the sub-committee which has Damodar Rajanarasimha (Medical and Health) and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy (Revenue) as members. Uttam said after its first meeting at the Secretariat: “To ensure that no deserving individual is left behind, the sub-committee is conducting a thorough study. There are plans to elicit suggestions and feedback from public representatives cutting across party lines as part of this process.”
Speaking to media persons, he said that the letters would be sent to all MPs, MLAs and MLCs seeking their inputs on the eligibility criteria. The Civil Supplies department has been tasked with drafting and sending these letters immediately, he added. Also, the sub-committee will consider the recommendations of the Saxena Committee, headed by Dr. NC Saxena, which includes Supreme Court special commissioner Harsh Mander as a member.
“The government is committed to providing ration cards to those below the poverty line and is keen to learn from the experiences of other states. A team of officials has already studied the ration card issuance procedures and eligibility criteria followed in other states,” Uttam said.
Addressing concerns about potential duplication, the sub-committee discussed, among others, allowing those who hold ration cards in other states and have migrated to Telangana to choose between retaining their existing card or obtaining a new one in Telangana.
During the meeting, Uttam noted that after Telangana was formed, the existing 91,68,231 ration cards from the undivided state period were reduced to 89,21,907 due to cancellations and migration to Andhra Pradesh. From 2016 to 2023, as many as 6,47,479 new ration cards were issued, but 5,98,000 were deleted.
Telangana currently has 89.96 lakh ration cards covering 2.8 crore units. Of these, 35.51 lakh are state-issued cards, while the remaining 54.45 lakh are National Food Security Act (NFSA) cards.
The state government has received 11.33 lakh applications for adding new members to the existing cards, accounting for 16.36 lakh units. The estimated expenditure for these additions is Rs 495.12 crore per year. There are 10 lakh applications for new ration cards, estimated to cover 31.60 lakh units at an expenditure of Rs 956.04 crore per year.
Civil Supplies Commissioner DS Chauhan, Health Secretary Christina Z Chongthu and other officials participated in the meeting.
Annual Income ceiling
Rural areas Rs 1.5 lakh & below
Urban areas Rs 2 lakh & below
Land holdings (for Rural areas)
Wet land 3.5 acres & below
Dry land 7.5 acres & below