Over 44,000 ration card holders in Keralam face exclusion from priority category after Centre’s directive on unclaimed rations
Over 44,000 families in Kerala face removal from priority ration lists after failing to collect their entitlements for six consecutive months. The directive aims to curb the illegal diversion of subsidized food commodities into the black market.
Why it matters
The crackdown highlights the challenges of managing large-scale public distribution systems and preventing corruption in food security programs.
As many as 44,279 families in Keralam are set to lose their eligibility for free ration benefits in the priority category based on a directive from the Centre to remove households that have not availed of their ration entitlement for six consecutive months.
The directive, issued based on monitoring of the State’s public distribution system (PDS), will affect 5,370 Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card holders (6,401 beneficiaries) and 38,909 Priority Household (PHH) card holders (60,300 beneficiaries).
The official PDS figures indicate that the households, comprising 66,701 beneficiaries, have not collected their ration entitlement even once during the last six months.
Among households that do not come under the purview of the National Food Security Act, 2013, 5,62,494 ration card holders (15,40,529 beneficiaries) have not availed their ration over the same period. These include 4,33,811 NPNS (Non-Priority Non-Subsidised), 1,19,166 NPS (Non-Priority Subsidised) and 9,517 NPI (Non-Priority Institution) ration card holders.
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