After the completion of an exercise for rectification of errors relating to the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) through mapping and seeding, the Congress Government in Rajasthan has launched action to strike off the families ineligible to get foodgrains under the scheme. The State has also sought inclusion of more families in the purview of food security.
Newly appointed Food and Civil Supplies Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said here on Saturday that the beneficiaries who had become financially empowered could voluntarily get their names removed from the NFSA list. This would help the poor and needy people get the foodgrains allocated under the food security scheme, he said.
No legal action would be taken against the financially well-off persons, Government employees and other ineligible persons who get their names removed as soon as possible, Mr. Khachariyawas said. The work for lifting and distribution of foodgrains allotted under the NFSA and the Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana would be expedited in the districts with slow progress, he added.
The records related to over 7 lakh families in 95 blocks of the State were corrected during the first phase of mapping and seeding earlier this year, while the work for seeding of ration cards of about 9 lakh families getting the benefit of NFSA with their Jan Aadhaar cards was taken up during the second phase.
As part of efforts to monitor the distribution of foodgrains, the quantity of allotted wheat is being recorded in the point-of-sale (POS) machines within the stipulated time-frame. The State Government has also sought an increase in the number of NFSA beneficiaries on the basis of the present population instead of the 2011 Census, after refixing of ceiling to extend the benefits to the needy families.
The Centre has set the ceiling of 4.46 crore people under the food security scheme in Rajasthan, for whom 2,30,882 metric tonnes of foodgrains are allocated per month. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has urged the Prime Minister to provide food security to an additional 74 lakh people on the basis of the State’s estimated population of 8 crore in 2021.
