With the help of technology, the government has been able to weed out as many as 4.39 crore ineligible or bogus ration cards between 2013 and 2020, an official release said on Friday.
As part of its efforts to rightful targeting of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has been trying to modernise public distribution system (PDS) and improve transparency and efficiency in its operations through digitisation of a database of ration cards or beneficiaries, Aadhaar seeding and de-duplication of digitised data.
As many as 81.35 crore Indians, nearly two-thirds of the total population, are covered under NFSA, and they receive foodgrains (rice, wheat coarse cereals) at a highly subsidised price of ₹3, ₹2 and ₹1 respectively on a monthly basis.