In a significant move aimed at strengthening the public distribution system, the Delhi government is set to potentially provide new ration cards to nearly three lakh economically disadvantaged residents. This initiative comes as authorities prepare to eliminate ineligible names from the current beneficiary list, making room for genuine applicants who have been waiting for years.
Major Cleanup Drive to Remove Ineligible Beneficiaries
The Centre has directed the Delhi government to sanitize the list of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. According to official data, 1,71,702 ration card holders who are currently listed as NFS beneficiaries are actually income taxpayers and therefore not entitled to receive subsidized rations. An official stated, "The Centre has asked us to sanitise the list of beneficiaries. A campaign will be launched to remove ineligible card holders through the laid-out process, including issuing notices to seek their responses."
Further investigation revealed additional irregularities in the system. Central government data shows that 10,549 ration card holders in Delhi have passed away, yet their cards remain active in the system. More alarmingly, authorities have detected more than 80,000 duplicate beneficiaries. An official elaborated, "These 80,103 cases involve individuals whose details appear multiple times or who hold more than one active ration card. Such duplication allows people to draw extra benefits while preventing genuine eligible families from accessing ration cards."
Pending Applications and Distribution System
The removal of these ineligible entries is crucial for addressing the substantial backlog of applications. The Delhi government currently has 2,89,705 pending applications covering approximately 9,80,977 potential beneficiaries, with thousands of these applications dating back to 2013. New ration cards cannot be issued unless existing ineligible cards are removed because the Centre has fixed the maximum number of beneficiaries in Delhi at 72,77,952.
Currently, the capital has 17.5 lakh active ration cards serving residents through 1,958 fair-price shops across the city. Under the NFSA, priority household beneficiaries receive 5 kg of food grains per person each month, typically consisting of 3 kg wheat and 2 kg rice. Families under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), representing the poorest category, receive a higher quota of 21 kg wheat, 14 kg rice and 1 kg sugar per month. Delhi currently has 66,005 AAY card holders, with the remainder classified under priority households.
Impact on Eligible Families
The verification drive represents a crucial step toward ensuring that welfare benefits reach those who genuinely need them. By removing income taxpayers, deceased individuals, and duplicate entries from the system, the government aims to create space for approximately three lakh economically weak residents who have been waiting for ration cards, some for nearly a decade. This cleanup operation is expected to bring greater transparency and efficiency to Delhi's public distribution system while ensuring that subsidized food grains reach the most vulnerable sections of society.
