New Delhi: The Union government has informed parliament that it has not received any information about whether the mandatory e-KYC verification process is leading to the exclusion of ration cardholders particularly affecting migrant populations and stated that it is the responsibility of state governments to look into inclusion or exclusion of beneficiaries.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday (December 4), minister of state ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya said that the e-KYC process is carried out by state governments.
“The e-KYC process is carried out by states/Union Territories. No data of ration cards cancelled due to the implementation of e-KYC is available with the Department of Food and Public Distribution,” Bambhaniya said in response to a question by Congress MP Sasikanth Senthil.
E-KYC is a verification process where each member mentioned on the family ration card has to physically be present at the ration shop to authenticate their identity through their Aadhar card. The Right to Food Campaign has earlier highlighted that the e-KYC verification exercise for removing unwanted beneficiaries (dead, fake, etc) from the food security coverage list is posing as a threat to most of the genuine ration cardholder population, particularly the migrant population.
“At a time when crores of people have been left out of the food security net on account of the government’s failure to carry out the census of 2021, it is inexplicable that the energy and resources of the government are being spent on creating further hindrance for existing ration cardholders rather than issuing ration cards to all those excluded from the National Food Security Act (NFSA),” the Right to Food Campaign stated in a statement in August.
However, in her reply to the Lok Sabha, Bambhaniya said: “The department has not received any such information from any states/Union Territories. States/Union Territories are responsible for the identification of ineligible/ duplicate ration cards and the inclusion of eligible beneficiaries/households.”
Also read: India’s Path to Food Security Has No Quick Fixes
“As per the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) Control Order 2015, the review of ration cards/beneficiaries list, identification of ineligible/ duplicate ration cards and inclusion of eligible beneficiaries/households is the responsibility of concerned state/Union Territory government. All states/Union Territories have been advised to undertake proper verification (including field verification) of each identified case to ensure that ration cards of genuine beneficiaries are not deleted/ suspended,” the written reply added.
In a separate written reply to a question by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Pratima Mondal on the rationale behind the e-KYC process, the minister stated that the process facilitates ‘right targeting’.
“The process of eKYC is for the right targeting and to ensure the inclusion of genuine beneficiaries. The process of eKYC does not lead to any marginalisation rather ineligible beneficiaries are excluded,” she said.
“Further, review of ration cards/beneficiaries list, identification of ineligible/ duplicate ration cards and inclusion of eligible beneficiaries/households is the responsibility of the concerned state/Union Territory government,” the minister added.
In a statement on November 20, the ministry had stated 5.8 crore ration cards have been removed and that 64% of all PDS beneficiaries have completed their e-KYC and the process to complete e-KYC for remaining beneficiaries is underway.
“For convenience of beneficiaries, the department has facilitated e-KYC of beneficiary at any Fair Price Shop (ration shop) across the country. Digitalisation and Aadhar seeding have led to de-duplication of ration cards and approx. 5.8 crore ration cards have been removed from PDS system, ensuring only eligible persons are included in PMGKAY(Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana)/NFSA,” the statement said.
