New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) The government has conducted eKYC verification of around 60 crore people or 74 per cent of the total beneficiaries under the National Food Security Scheme, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi said some states, including Delhi, had not conducted eKYC verification of beneficiaries and the Centre had reminded the states to complete the process.
Joshi said the Food Security Act provided coverage of up to 75 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban population.
“Sixty crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Scheme have completed the eKYC process, which is 74 per cent of the total beneficiaries,” he said.
“There are 30,63,998 (30.63 lakh) beneficiaries under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana ration card who get 35 kilogrammes of rice… There are 5,60,775 (5.60 lakh) beneficiaries above 100 years (of age) under the scheme. There are 2.11 lakh beneficiaries who are (holding) single-member ration cards below the age of 18. There are 31 lakh duplicate ration cards, nearly 2.2 crore silent ration cards. We have now done eKYC and used technology to weed out duplicate ration cards,” the minister informed the Upper House.
According to the Niti Aayog, about 25 crore people have come out of multi-dimensional poverty and the World Bank has also said that 13 crore people have come out poverty, he said.
“We have urged state governments to weed out ineligible beneficiaries, as the criterion is set by state governments within the ceiling provided by us,” he added.
In his written reply to a starred question, Joshi said, “The Act provides for coverage of up to 75 per cent of the rural and up to 50 per cent of the urban population which, at Census 2011, comes out to 81.35 crore persons.” At present, against an intended coverage of 81.35 crore, states and Union territories have identified 80.56 crore beneficiaries under the Act, he added.
The identification of beneficiaries by states and Union territories is a continuous process and involves exclusion of ineligible or fake or duplicate ration cards. It also requires exclusion on account of death and migration and inclusion on account of birth as well as that of genuine left-out households, he further said.
At this, Congress member Jairam Ramesh said Joshi’s answer revealed that the difference between the intended and the identified beneficiaries was eight million or 80 lakh, meaning eight million Indians entitled to free foodgrains were not getting free ration.
He asked how this gap would be bridged and claimed 14 crore Indians were not getting free foodgrains since since no Census had been conducted.
Joshi replied that Ramesh was a master at “twisting” issues and added one must appreciate his power of “misleading”.
He said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government passed the Food Security Act in 2013, just before the general elections, and it was the Modi government that implemented it after coming to power.
“They (UPA) did not even form the rules of the Act and we framed the rules,” Joshi said.
The minister added that the issue of conducting a Census did not come under his ministry and, hence, did not reply. PTI SKC SZM SZM
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