Ration Card Scheme:The promise of giving free ration to the poor under the Ration Card Scheme has been going on for years, but now a big scam has come to light in this scheme. The government has identified 16.67 lakh ration card holders who were ineligible for the scheme but were still availing the benefits of free ration.
These include people like big farmers, income tax payers and car owners. The Food and Logistics Department has started weeding out these fake ration card holders, so that the rights of the poor reach only the needy.
In this article, we will tell you in detail about the rigging in the Ration Card Scheme, the rules of eligibility and the strict steps taken by the government.
Fraud revealed in ration card scheme
The purpose of Ration Card Scheme is to provide free ration to poor and needy people. But some people, who are financially capable, were taking advantage of this scheme. Government investigation revealed that those who had cars, large agricultural land or an annual income of more than Rs 3 lakh were also getting free ration by making ration cards.
These people were taking advantage of this scheme meant for the poor, even though they did not need it. Now the government is going to take strict action against these ineligible people.
Number of ineligible ration card holders in the districts
The Food and Logistics Department started a large-scale investigation under the Ration Card Scheme. In this investigation, ineligible people were caught in many districts, who were taking ration wrongly. The government has released district-wise figures, which show the severity of the scam:
It is clear from these figures that the maximum number of ineligible ration card holders were found in big cities like Lucknow, Kanpur and Prayagraj. The ration of the poor was being snatched away in these cities.
The game of income tax payer and big farmers
The investigation also revealed that many income tax payers and big farmers were also taking advantage of the Ration Card Scheme. For example, in Jaunpur, 39,269 income tax payers were found to be ration card holders. Apart from this, even in cities like Prayagraj, Gorakhpur and Azamgarh, economically affluent people were taking free ration.
Big farmers included those who owned 5 acres or more of farming land. In districts like Pratapgarh, Sitapur and Aligarh, farmers were caught who were not eligible for this scheme.
Eligibility rules for ration card scheme
Only poor and needy people can avail benefits of Ration Card Scheme. For this, the government has made some strict rules:
Antyodaya Card: This card is available to those people whose annual income is less than Rs 2 lakh and who are below the poverty line.
Household Card: This card is for those living in urban areas, whose annual income is less than Rs 3 lakh. In rural areas this limit is Rs 2 lakh.
What will happen now?
The government has started taking strict steps to stop the fraud in the Ration Card Scheme. The Food and Logistics Department has started weeding out ineligible ration card holders. Those who have more assets or higher income, their ration cards will be cancelled.
This retrenchment process is being done under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana and National Food Security Act, so that only needy people can avail the benefits of this scheme.
Steps towards securing the rights of the poor
The purpose of Ration Card Scheme is to provide free ration to the poor. But ineligible people misused this scheme. After identifying 16.67 lakh fake ration card holders, the government has started weeding them out.
This step was necessary to bring transparency in the scheme and provide benefits only to the eligible people. Now there will be verification of ration card holders, so that only the needy get ration. With this the government will ensure that the rights of the poor reach them.
