Parliament Question: Cancellation of Ration Cards

GOVERNMENT OF INDiA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4054 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12Tll AUGUST, 2026 CANCELLATION OF RATION CARDS 4054 SHRI JAI PARKASH: Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is aware of the complaints regarding cancellation of ration cards issued under the BPL category/National Food Security Act (NFSA) and non-inclusion of newly eligible families in the State ofHaryana particularly in Hisar Lok Sabha Constituency; (b) if so, the details of ration cards cancelled and new ration cards approved in the Hisar Lok Sabha Constituency during the last three years along with the reasons therefor, year-wise ; (c) the details of guidelines issued by the Union Government for identification, verification and ensuring the coverage of Below Poverty Line (BPL) beneficiaries; and (d) the details of the steps taken by the Government to mitigate the impact of rising prices of essential commodities on poor and low-income families and to ensure the availability of foodgrains and essential commodities to them at affordable prices? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRIM ATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBH Al BAMBHANIYA) (a) to (c): Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State/Union Territory (UT) Governments. Central Government is responsible for procurement, allocation and transportation of foodgrains upto the designated depots of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The operational responsibilities for allocation of foodgrains within the States/ UTs, identification of eligible beneficiaries, issuance of ration cards to them, distribution of foodgrains to eligible beneficiaries under TPDS, issuance of license to Fair Price Shop dealers, supervision over and monitoring of functioning of FPSs, etc., rest with the concerned State/UT Governments. Helpline number 1967/1800-State series number is operational in all the States/ UTs for contacting and redressal of the complaints in the Public Distribution System and filing any type of complaints by the intended beneficiaries. As and when complaints related to PDS are received in this Department from any source, they are sent to the State/ UT Governments concerned for inquiry and appropriate action.After implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013, the criteria of identification of beneficiaries/ households have been de-linked from BPL/ APL categories and beneficiaries are identified under two categories, namely:- (i) Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) Households, and (ii) Priority Households (PHU). The State Government of Haryana has reported that 222 complaints from Hisar constituency have been received from the families regarding cancellation of ration card as well as the non-enrollment of newly eligible families in the past three years, every month updation is being done. Detail of Ration Cards (RCs): Sr. No.1ConstituencyIYearINe tv Added RCICancelled RC Hisar B2 2490 1 36205 2024 39775 25686 2025 11730 4121 m2 7582 157 # if the income as per family ID is more than 1.80 Lakh, then the beneficiary is not eligible for PIVIGKAY ration card. (d): Government is implementing the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMIGKAY), which provides food and nutritional security in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to an adequate quantity of quality food free of cost to people to live a life with dignity. The PMGKAY aims to supplement the food requirements of upto 75% of the rural and upto 50% of the urban population, which at Census 2011 comes to 81.35 crore persons. While Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, are entitled to 35 kg of foodgrains per household per month, Priority Households (PHH) are entitled to 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month free of cost. The Coverage under the Act is substantially high to ensure that all the vulnerable and needy sections of society get their benefits. Keeping in view welfare of the beneficiaries of PMGKAY in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability of food grains for the poor and to ensure nationwide uniformity and effective implementation of the programme for support of the poor, the Government had decided toprovide food grains free of cost to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households and Priority Households (PHH) beneficiaries, beginning from 1 st January 2023 under the NFSA. The period for distribution of free of cost foodgrains has been extended for five years from 1 st January, 2024, with an estimated financial outlay of Rs. 11.80 lakh crore, to be borne by the Central Government. \ Government monitors the daily prices of 41 food commodities submitted by the 579 price monitoring centres across the country and keeps a close watch on the production and availability of essential commodities through regular reviews by the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC). The Committee reviews, on a regular basis, the scenario and the indicative trends in prices of essential agri-horticultural commodities and suggests enhancing availability through increased domestic production and rationalisation in export-import policies. The Government maintains a buffer stock of pulses and onions under Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to tackle extreme volatility in the prices of agri-horticultural commodities and ensure the availability of these essential food commodities to consumers at affordable prices. Buffer stocks of pulses and onions are maintained under PSF for price stabilisation interventions. Regulated release of pulses from the buffer to augment the availability helps in cooling down the market prices. In the case of onions, the buffer stock plays critical role in controlling the seasonal fluctuation in prices. Onions from the government buffer are released during the lean season in a regulated and targeted manner to augment the market availability and stabilise the prices. 88888