Govt order seeks to reduce number of Antodaya beneficiaries

At a time when the Centre is pressing states to quickly adopt the National Food Security Act (NFSA), the Public Distribution System (PDS) control order 2015 seeks to slowly reduce the number of people who would get additional benefits for being the poorest of the poor. The order states that no new beneficiaries would be added to the Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) to replace those who become ineligible due to either migration or improvement in their status or death.

Under the AAY scheme, the Centre provides 35 kg grains to each household at the rate of Rs 3 per kg for rice and Rs 2 for wheat, unlike the food Act that provides 25 kg. The total number of AAY beneficiaries who get subsidised food is also capped at 2.5 crore

The AAY scheme was launched during the previous National Democratic Alliance government headed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and was continued under the UPA's NFSA as well. The order also states that census data of 2011 will be used till 2022-23 by the Centre for allocation of foodgrain under the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (TPDS) and no new beneficiaries could be added on to list based on four-year old data. The state would have to bear the cost of additional population added to the beneficiary list.

On issuance of ration cards too, the order states that it will be limited to citizens and not residents as provided in the NFSA.

"The state government shall use the list of persons as compiled during Census of India by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, or voters' list notified by Election Commission of India, or socio economic and caste census data, or any other authentic source of data to cross-check, and verify the list of eligible households and their members," the order stated.