‘No annual drives held in Gujarat to remove ineligible food subsidy beneficiaries’

Ahmedabad: The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has flagged that the state govt did not carry out the mandated annual special drive to eliminate ineligible or fraudulent ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).Clause 4 of the Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2015, mandates that state govts conduct an annual exercise to remove bogus or ineligible ration cards before the end of each financial year."Audit observed that the state govt did not carry out any such special drive to remove ineligible ration cards… between 2016 and 2023, except for the year 2018-19 when Aadhaar-based biometric authentication was introduced," the report stated.The report stated that the introduction of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication in 2018-19 led to the removal of 6.06 lakh fraudulent or irregular ration cards, affecting a population of 48.67 lakh. "As a result, the annual distribution of foodgrains decreased by 5.41%, from 21.08 lakh metric tonnes (MT) in 2017-18 to 19.94 lakh MT in 2018-19," the report stated.The report further stated that "between April 2016 and Feb 2018, approximately 5.15 lakh MT of foodgrains, along with other commodities, were distributed under these bogus or ineligible ration cards".The report stated that "in 47% of the cases, the income data were either invalid or indicated that at least one member's income exceeded the threshold of Rs 15,000 per month".The department stated (May 2024) that instructions were issued to district collectors to verify income and other eligibility criteria and remove ineligible households from the NFSA list to ensure that benefits reach only bona fide beneficiaries.