Parliament Question: Beneficiaries of PMGKAY

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1779 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10TH DECEMBER, 2025 BENEFICIARIES OF PMGKAY

1779. SHRI SUDAMA PRASAD:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS. FOOD AND PUBLIC

DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the criteria being used to determine ineligibility of beneficiaries under the PMGKAY as per the data shared by the Income Tax Department;

(b) the details of beneficiaries of the scheme and the details of the estimated number of beneficiaries likely to be removed from the scheme, State/district-wise;

(c) the details of the measures taken by the Government to prevent wrongful exclusion of eligible beneficiaries ;

(d) whether any grievance redressal mechanism has been made available for those wrongly classified as ineligible under the income verification and also the alternative measures which are put in place to address the same;

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(f) whether the Government has constituted any committee to assess the impact on vulnerable households under the stated exclusion process and if so, the details thereon ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA)

(a) to (c): Under Section 10 of the National Food Security Act (NFS A), 2013, the responsibility for identifying eligible and ineligible households rests entirely with the State/UT Governments. As per Section 10(1), each State/UT is required to frame its own inclusion and exclusion guidelines and identify Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) within the coverage limits determined under the Act. Further,Section 10(2) mandates that States/UTs must periodically review and update their beneficiary lists in accordance with these guidelines. Accordingly, the statutory authority for identification, validation, and updation of NFS A beneficiaries lies exclusively with the respective State/UT Governments. In order to support States/UTs in improving the accuracy of beneficiary databases, the Department undertook an analytical exercise wherein PMGKA Y beneficiary data was cross-matched with datasets of other Ministries/Departments such as CBDT, CBIC, MCA, UIDAI (Aadhaar), and MoRTH

(Vahan), in addition to internal parameters such as silent cards, duplicate cards, beneficiaries aged above 100 years, single-member AAY households, etc. Based on this multi-layered analysis, 8.51 crore beneficiaries were flagged for field-level verification.

States/UTs have been advised to carry out re-verification of these flagged cases strictly in accordance with their notified inclusion/exclusion criteria. Any decision regarding retention, deletion, or correction of beneficiary records is taken only after such verification by the respective State/UT Governments. No beneficiary is removed automatically or without due process. As reported by the States/UTs, 2.12 crore of the flagged beneficiaries have been deleted after verification, thereby enabling the inclusion of genuinely eligible households.

State-wise details of flagged and deleted beneficiaries after verification (as on

30. 1 1.2025) at Annexure.

(d) to (f): The Department has taken several steps to strengthen grievance redressal in the Public Distribution System. Major initiatives include:

1. Strengthened Grievance Redressal Systems 0 Universal availability of 1 967/1800-series toll-free helplines across all States/UTs.

0 Introduction of Anna Sahayata, an advanced Al-enabled WhatsApp and IVRS-based grievance redressal system, allowing beneficiaries to lodge complaints in their own language 0 Mera Ration Mobile App, which enables beneficiaries to check their entitlements, member and demographic details, last month’s distribution status, nearby FPS location, and to lodge grievances directly through the app.

2. Enhanced Monitoring through CPGRAMS 0 States/UTs and all concerned organisations have been sensitised to strictly adhere to the 21-day timeline for grievance disposal prescribed under CPGRAMS.

0 Pendency of grievances is monitored regularly through CPGRAMS dashboards.

0 Monthly advisories are issued to States to promote uniform and timely grievance resolution 0 States/UTs with high pendency levels are specifically flagged for corrective action.3. Capacity Building & Oversight , Regular trainings, workshops, and video conferences are conducted with States/UTs to improve the efficiency of grievance handling systems.

o The Department ensures strict implementation of the Standard Operating Procedure

(SOP) for grievance redressal, ensuring accountability and timely resolution.

Further, to prevent wrongful exclusion of eligible beneficiaries, the Department has advised all States/UTs to conduct physical and individual-level verification of each flagged case before taking any action. This process ensures that eligibility is determined strictly in accordance with State/UT-specific criteria framed under Section 10 of NFS A.

The Department has not constituted any such committee to assess the impact on vulnerable households under .the stated exclusion process.

SeSeSc SeRgeAnnexure State-wise details of flagged and deleted beneficiaries after verification (as on 30.11.2025) Sr No. State Name Flal led Cases Deleted Cases 1 ANDAMAN AND NECOBAR ISLANDS 971 135 2 ANDHRA PRADESH 37,90,418 2,76,035 3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 1 ,67,926 1 4 ASSAM 35,95,862 12,93,470 5 BIHAR 54,20,773 12,68,435 6 CHANDIGARH 61 ,481E 2,345 7 CHHATTISGARH 33,36,534 1 ,54,320 8 Dadar & Naqar Haveli & Daman & Diu 52,265 8,431 9 DELHI 8,14,258 23,600 10 GOA 49,279 3,299 11 GUJARAT 55,09,230 14,06,257 12 HARYANA 31 ,64,507 19,47,958 13 HIMACHAL PRADESH 5,32,435 21 ,819 14 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 10,67,961 26,484 15 JHARKHAN D 40,69,980 6,46,786 16 KARNATAKA 7,61 ,689 49,773 17 KERALA 19,21 ,831 74,442 18 LADAKH 19,229 602 19 LAKSHADWEEP 6,084 50 20 MADHYA PRADESH 8,03,617 21 MAHARASHTRA 1 ,78,44,571 72,73,133 22 MANIPUR 5,66,437 15,023 23 MEGHALAYA 49,455 47 24 MIZORAM 1 ,72,241 3,768 25 NAGALAN D 3,08,904 18,425 26 ODISHA 49,27,086 18,83,084 27 PUDUCHERRY 31 ,002 1,183 28 PUNJAB 22,11 ,899 2,57,493 29 RAJASTHAN 75,68,053 14,69,874 30 SIKKIM 38, 134 3,590 31 TAMIL NADU 10,46,675 84,416 32 TELANGANA 4,95,795 1 ,17,796 33 TRIPU RA 1 ,05,000 46,705 34 UTTAR PRADESH 54,80,518 17,38,231 35 UTTARAKHAN D 8,53,703 17,762 36 WEST BENGAL 17,29,802 3,51 ,997 Grand Total 8,51 ,57,422 2,12,90,386