NEW DELHI: With reports of Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries being denied subsidised rations for want of Aadhaar number or failure of biometric authentication, the Central Government on Saturday clarified that eligible beneficiaries can have their Aadhaar numbers linked to ration cards/smart cards till December 31.
They should not be denied foodgrains on this count. ”The Centre is aware of the challenges in the transition to the Point of Sale (PoS)-based Aadhaar authentication system in the PDS. It has, therefore, issued instructions to ensure that while Aadhaar-based authentication needs to be promoted, no eligible beneficiary under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) should be deprived of the entitled quantity of foodgrains for want of Aadhaar number or failure of biometric authentication,” a Food Ministry press note said here.
The Ministry was reacting to recent reports of an alleged starvation death of a woman in Bareilly district on the heels of the death of an 11-year-old girl in Simdega district in Jharkhand last month.
”Any member of the eligible household will be entitled to receive entire quantity of subsidised foodgrain or cash transfer of food subsidy under NFSA on behalf of the household if he/she fulfills identification requirements, irrespective of whether all members of the household have had Aadhaar number assigned to them,” the ministry note said.
It has also been clarified that in case of failure of biometric authentication due to network/connectivity/ linking issue or due to poor biometric of the beneficiary or any other technical reason, the beneficiary is to be provided subsidised foodgrain or cash transfer of Food Subsidy on the basis of physical production of Aadhaar card along with the ration card by him/her in place of biometric authentication, as provided in the Aadhaar Act.
The seeding of Aadhaar number is aimed at biometric identification of the beneficiaries for the targeting of the foodgrains provided under NFSA and weeding out bogus ration cards. (AGENCIES)
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