Food ministry to allocate Rs 4,000 cr in 2011-12 for digitising ration cards

Coinciding with the possible launch of the government’s national food security law in the next financial year, the food ministry plans to earmark Rs 4,000 crore to assist states in digitising ration cards.

The move is aimed to help eliminate fake ration cards and check diversion of grain. The ministry has also called a meeting on February 8-9 of state agriculture and consumer affairs ministers to further the initiative.

“We have brought down the diversion of foodgrain meant for the Public Distribution System from 40 per cent to almost 20 per cent in the last few years but much more needs to be done to ensure grains reach the intended beneficiary,” food minister K V Thomas said.

He said the administrations in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Orissa, Puducherry and West Bengal had started the process of digitising ration cards, but it needed a clearer push. “The number of below-poverty-line ration cards have come down 10.56 crore to 7.6 crore after the drive to eliminate bogus rations cards was started in the country,” Thomas said.

The minister said it had also been decided to constitute a committee to study labour problems in the Food Corporation of India (FCI). In some places, godowns do not have adequate staffing. At others, the workforce is ageing. “We need to undertake modernisation of labour-intensive jobs in FCI, for which consultations need to be held with the labour unions,” Thomas said.