Tue, Oct 18 2016. 09 45 PM IST
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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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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.