States Ordered to Remove Ineligible Free Ration Beneficiaries by 30 September
10-Sep-2025 11:35 AM
New Delhi. The Union Food Ministry has urged all the states and union territories of the country to complete the task of removing all ineligible beneficiaries receiving free ration under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana from this list by 30 September 2025.
According to official sources, the main objective of this campaign is to exclude such people (beneficiaries) from the scope of the scheme who are not entitled to avail its benefits in the right case.
Actually, the waiting list for making a new ration card is different in different states. Under this, 11 lakh people in Delhi and 88 thousand people in Maharashtra are included in the waiting list for making a new ration card.
According to initial estimates, more than 80 crore beneficiaries across the country are getting the benefit of free ration scheme, while at least 10-20 percent of the beneficiaries are not eligible to get this benefit.
In fact, the list of beneficiaries of the free ration scheme also includes the names of such persons who are taxpayers, directors of companies and those who own their own car.
There are also innumerable people included in this list who fulfill the eligibility conditions made at the provincial level to get the benefit of the scheme.
What is meant to say is that many people from the rich class are also associated with this scheme. They do not actually take ration but ration is distributed in their name.
After the central directive, many states like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh have started the process of removing the names of ineligible people from the list of beneficiaries of the free ration scheme.
The number of silent ration card holders is also very high who have not received ration during the period of last six months to one year.
Efforts have been intensified to identify such card holders. In July, the Food Ministry had told the states that in principle, about 80 crore people of the country are being given free ration (rice or wheat) at the rate of 5 kg per month.
The government wants to add the name of a new beneficiary to it. For this, it is necessary that the entire process be made systematic, practical and transparent and the names of ineligible people be removed from the list.