The State government will soon link Aadhaar to ration cards in districts where a high percentage of Aadhaar cards have been distributed to citizens.
Minister of State for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Dinesh Gundu Rao told presspersons here on Thursday that a high percentage of citizens had received Aadhaar cards in Tumkur, Mysore and Dharwad districts. “Their ration cards would be linked to Aadhaar numbers in the next two to three months,” he said.
Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman Nandan Nilekani has promised to issue Aadhaar cards to all citizens in other districts by next year. The issue of linking ration cards with UID cards has been discussed with Mr. Nilekani. “Ultimately, our goal is to link all ration cards with Aadhaar numbers,” Mr. Rao said.
The Minister said the department was insisting that persons who have applied for Below Poverty Line (BPL) should note down their Aadhaar card number in the application. A total of 13 lakh applications have been received so far. A circular has already been issued to officials concerned.
Even the existing ration cardholders will be asked to furnish the Aadhaar card numbers at the time of addition or deletion of names or inserting change of address, Mr. Rao said.
He said the tender process to procure jawar and ragi would start from Friday and traders and co-operative societies can participate in the bidding. The Cabinet sub-committee has announced Rs. 1,800 per quintal as procurement price of ragi and jawar and the rate has to be approved by the State Cabinet, which will meet on Friday. He said price for ragi and jowar would be fixed at Rs. 5 and Rs. 8, respectively. The rate might increase or decline and the same would be offered to sellers. The department would set up procurement centres to buy directly from farmers. He said one kilogram of sugar a month would be distributed to BPL families from October. The monthly requirement of sugar would be 1.1 lakh tonnes and the department plans to procure 60,000 tonnes from private factories and 50,000 tonnes from government and cooperative sugar units.
DCT of kerosene subsidy
The State government has taken a decision to transfer subsidy component of kerosene to bank accounts of ration cards directly in districts where the Aadhaar cards have been distributed. A subsidy of Rs. 16.20 per litre would be transferred to the bank accounts of consumers under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on the lines of subsidy on LPG. Mr. Dinesh Gundu Rao said one of the conditions laid down under the National Food Security Act was opening a bank account in the name of a woman in each family.
