STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Assam Government will resume issuing ration cards to eligible beneficiaries through proper verification under the NFSA-2013 (National Food Security Act-2013) shortly.
The government kept in abeyance the issuance of ration cards under the NFSA-2013 for the past few months when the government cleansed the database of NFSA ration cards through the deletion of ineligible cardholders and the surrender of ration cards by the cardholders themselves.
The population cap for NFSA cardholders in the state is 2,52,18,001. On the contrary, the state database of NFSA ration cardholders had 2,08,36,588 beneficiaries till September 2022. It implies that the State Government can still issue NFSA ration cards for at least 43,81,413 eligible beneficiaries.
However, according to sources in the Food and Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, the government can issue NFSA ration cards to around 50 lakhs more eligible beneficiaries following the deletion of names of ineligible beneficiaries by the government and surrender of ration cards by cardholders after September last year.
According to official sources, the National Food Security Act of 2013 legally entitles up to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). And the State Government wants to resume issuing NFSA ration cards to reach the cap set under the Act.
Under this Act, eligible beneficiaries get free-of-cost rice in Assam.
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