- विज्ञापन -
The central government has taken a significant step to make the public distribution system (PDS) more transparent, secure, and efficient. The government on Wednesday amended the existing PDS rules and made the electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) process mandatory for all ration card holders after every five years. The move is aimed at checking fraud in the ration distribution system, removing duplicate cards and ensuring that subsidies reach the right beneficiaries.
Understand what the new rules are
The Union government’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution issued an official notification on Wednesday. It said that significant changes have been made in the PDS under the “Targeted Public Distribution System (Control) Amendment Order, 2025” to increase transparency, prevent duplication, and improve subsidy targeting.
Under this, state governments will have to mandatorily complete the e-KYC process after every five years for all eligible families. In this process, ineligible families will be removed from the beneficiary list and new eligible families will be included.
As per the new rules, the minimum age for separate ration cards has now been fixed at 18 years. This step will ensure that only eligible persons get a subsidy through ration cards. No person will be eligible to get separate ration cards before completing the age of 18 years. Aadhaar numbers of children below five years of age (if available) should be collected and e-KYC must be done within one year of their completion of five years.
The notification said, “The ration cards of beneficiaries who have not availed their entitlements in the last six months will be temporarily deactivated. The state government will have to complete field verification and e-KYC within three months to re-evaluate the eligibility and take further action.”
Further, in cases where duplicate ration cards are found in the same state or different states, beneficiaries will be given three months to prove their eligibility by submitting valid documents and completing e-KYC. “First-come, first-served (FIFO) method will be adopted for issuing new ration cards. States will have to publish a real-time transparent waiting list on their public web portal, through which applicants will be able to track the status of their application,” the Centre said.
What is the e-KYC process?
E-KYC is a digital verification process in which ration card holders have to verify their identity through Aadhaar card. This process can be completed through Aadhaar-based biometric authentication (fingerprint or eye scan) or one-time password (OTP). After Aadhaar authentication, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will provide basic information like name, date of birth, address, gender, and photograph of the beneficiary to the state food and civil supplies departments.
This data will be merged with the PDS database to verify the identity of the beneficiary.
