Cash for rice through bank accounts: govt relaxes conditions

: Directorate of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs relaxed its earlier condition to get Rs 300 cash per ration card through bank accounts instead of the 10 kg free rice available through ration shops.
The cash would be available in accounts of male members if there was no account in the name of wife or senior woman member, a press release from the Directorate said.
It pointed out that remittance of cash in account of the woman members of the family in a nationalised bank was the first option. In case there was no account in the name of the woman or wife, the amount would be available in the account of the male member who is the head of the family.

The Directorate said families should ensure they had registered Aadhaar numbers in nationalised banks where they have SB accounts.If no aadhaar number was available,they could approach the nearest aadhar card generation centre and get them registered with the directorate on its website and inform the concerned bank.
The Directorate had earlier stated that the cash instead of rice would be disbursed only through the bank account in the nationalised bank in the name of the senior woman member or the wife. This led to protests from various sections of society, including political parties who contended that there was still a big chunk of women who did not have bank accounts.