Staff Reporter
Guwahati: More than 4.52 lakh ration cards under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the Northeast region have been cancelled or deleted from beneficiary lists, as they have been found to be in the names of duplicate or ineligible beneficiaries or due to e-KYC mismatches, deaths, and permanent migration of cardholders.
According to information available with The Sentinel, a total of 4.52 lakh ration cards were cancelled or deleted in the period between 2020 and October 2025. Of the 4.52 lakh cards cancelled in the NE states, the highest number of 2,85,488 ration cards were cancelled in Assam. Among the other NE states, Arunachal had 2,875 cards, Manipur 1,08,639 cards, Meghalaya 2,581 cards, Mizoram 14,100 cards, Nagaland 19,180 cards, Sikkim 10,159 cards and Tripura had 9,054 ration cards deleted or cancelled.
In Assam, the highest number of 1,61,516 ration cards were deleted in 2024. This year, until October, a total of 24,381 ration cards have been deleted or cancelled for various reasons.
Under the NFSA, the operational responsibility for identification of beneficiaries and management of the beneficiary lists rests with the respective states/UTs.
According to the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, the key reasons reported by States/UTs for cancellation of ration cards include identification of duplicate or ineligible beneficiaries, e-KYC mismatches, deaths, and permanent migration of households. No ration cards have been reported to be cancelled solely due to failure to complete e-KYC or Aadhaar authentication.
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