Aadhaar helps TN trim PDS list; 1.43cr duplicate names off
Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com
Chennai 03.07.2018
: Thanks to Aadhaar, the demographic and biometric authentication process has helped remove the names of 1.4 crore people from the public distribution system database in the state as they appeared on more than one ration card. The duplications were rectified after seeding of Aadhaar numbers in the government database for universal PDS.
About 10 lakh duplicate PDS cards were also eliminated during the exercise, said a policy note tabled by R Kamaraj, food and consumer protection minister, in the state assembly. “Names of these people appeared in one or more cards and they were enjoying subsidized commodities. After seeding of unique numbers to the database for the distribution of smart cards, the number of people came down from eight crore to 6.6 crore in our database,” said a senior government official.
“The eligible cards have now come down to 1.96 crore,” he said. Under PDS and special PDS, essential commodities are sold at subsidized rates, while rice is supplied free of cost.
Rice supplied by govt unfit for consumption, says Cong MLA
Between 2011 and 2016, periodical door-to-door verification resulted in elimination of 5.47 lakh cards. During the debate on demand for grants for the department in the assembly, the opposition and treasury benches locked horns over the quality of essentials sold in PDS outlets. “The rice supplied by government is unfit for consumption and quality check parameters have not been followed,” R Ganesh (Congress) alleged. Minister Kamaraj said the Congress couldn’t make such an allegation as it levied service tax on storage of rice but scrapped it following stiff opposition from former CM J Jayalalithaa. The monthly allotment of 2.92 lakh tonnes of rice to TN from the central pool was checked for quality before being sold in outlets. While 3.17 lakh tonnes is the monthly offtake, the state meets the demand by purchasing at a higher rate from the Centre.
TN spends ₹6,000 crore towards food subsidy each year, despite implementing the National Food Safety Act that narrows down priority and nonpriority households. “But all rice cardholders are eligible for 5kg rice each as per NFSA,” chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said.
The abrupt stoppage of urad dal under special PDS came in for sharp criticism from the opposition, but government said 20,000 tonnesof tur dal and 1.5 crore litres of palmolein oil were supplied to all cardholders every month to keep the price hike under control. The supply will continue upto February next year.
In a bid to put in place security mechanism, Kamaraj announced GPS in trucks that transport goods from the Food Corporation of India and Civil Supplies godowns to PDS outlets, besides CCTV surveillance at a cost of ₹20 crore. Twenty-five direct purchase centres to procure paddy directly from farmers will be set up in the delta districts at ₹12 crore this fiscal.
Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com
Chennai 03.07.2018
: Thanks to Aadhaar, the demographic and biometric authentication process has helped remove the names of 1.4 crore people from the public distribution system database in the state as they appeared on more than one ration card. The duplications were rectified after seeding of Aadhaar numbers in the government database for universal PDS.
About 10 lakh duplicate PDS cards were also eliminated during the exercise, said a policy note tabled by R Kamaraj, food and consumer protection minister, in the state assembly. “Names of these people appeared in one or more cards and they were enjoying subsidized commodities. After seeding of unique numbers to the database for the distribution of smart cards, the number of people came down from eight crore to 6.6 crore in our database,” said a senior government official.
“The eligible cards have now come down to 1.96 crore,” he said. Under PDS and special PDS, essential commodities are sold at subsidized rates, while rice is supplied free of cost.
Rice supplied by govt unfit for consumption, says Cong MLA
Between 2011 and 2016, periodical door-to-door verification resulted in elimination of 5.47 lakh cards. During the debate on demand for grants for the department in the assembly, the opposition and treasury benches locked horns over the quality of essentials sold in PDS outlets. “The rice supplied by government is unfit for consumption and quality check parameters have not been followed,” R Ganesh (Congress) alleged. Minister Kamaraj said the Congress couldn’t make such an allegation as it levied service tax on storage of rice but scrapped it following stiff opposition from former CM J Jayalalithaa. The monthly allotment of 2.92 lakh tonnes of rice to TN from the central pool was checked for quality before being sold in outlets. While 3.17 lakh tonnes is the monthly offtake, the state meets the demand by purchasing at a higher rate from the Centre.
TN spends ₹6,000 crore towards food subsidy each year, despite implementing the National Food Safety Act that narrows down priority and nonpriority households. “But all rice cardholders are eligible for 5kg rice each as per NFSA,” chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said.
The abrupt stoppage of urad dal under special PDS came in for sharp criticism from the opposition, but government said 20,000 tonnesof tur dal and 1.5 crore litres of palmolein oil were supplied to all cardholders every month to keep the price hike under control. The supply will continue upto February next year.
In a bid to put in place security mechanism, Kamaraj announced GPS in trucks that transport goods from the Food Corporation of India and Civil Supplies godowns to PDS outlets, besides CCTV surveillance at a cost of ₹20 crore. Twenty-five direct purchase centres to procure paddy directly from farmers will be set up in the delta districts at ₹12 crore this fiscal.
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