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The ration cards of all the 20.4 crore households covering 80.6 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act have been digitised with 99.8 per cent of the ration cards and 98.7 per cent of individual beneficiaries being Aadhaar-seeded to plug leakages in the delivery system and enhance efficiency, the Union Ministry of Food and Public Distribution said on Wednesday. 

National Portability of ration cards under the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) initiative has ensured regular availability and accessibility of free foodgrains to all 80.6 crore NFSA beneficiaries in any part of the country, through the same existing ration card, irrespective of the state/district from where the ration card was issued, the official statement said.

Foodgrain distribution is operationalised through 5.33 lakh e-PoS devices, covering nearly all Fair Price shops in the country. These e-PoS devices enable Aadhaar authentication of beneficiaries during the distribution process enabling rightful targeting. Today Aadhaar authentication is used for distributing around 98 per cent of total foodgrains, reducing leakages to ineligible beneficiaries and mitigating any risk of pilferage, the statement said.

The Supply Chain Management System has also been adopted and integrated for end-to-end operations and services at all levels of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) organisation, Development of Central Food Procurement Portal (CFPP) for streamlined MSP operations, implementation of Warehouse Inventory Network and Governing System (WINGS) application to automate tagging of mills with depots, as well as allocation of stack space in FCI, Vehicle Location Tracking System (VLTS) innovative with integration with Railways for online real-time tracking of food consignment and WDRA registration of all FCI Godowns.

The government has also taken extensive steps to ensure rightful targeting through the process of eKYC which validates the identities of beneficiaries with their Aadhaar credentials and ration card details leading to exclusion of ineligible beneficiaries.

As of today, 64 per cent of all PDS beneficiaries have completed their eKYC and the process is in full swing to complete eKYC for remaining beneficiaries.

Digitalization and Aadhaar seeding have led to the removal of duplication of ration cards and approx. 5.8 crore ration cards have been removed from the PDS system, ensuring only eligible persons are included in PMGKAY/NFSA.

“Through digitization, rightful - targeting, and supply chain innovations, the Government of India has set a global benchmark for state-sponsored food security initiatives. The actions by the Government of India underscore its commitment to plug leakages in the system and minimise inefficiency,” the statement added.