Under PMGKAY-Centre Proposed Reverification of Ineligible Beneficiaries

The Government of India has stepped up to recheck and revise the list of beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). This is geared towards, ensuring that free ration benefits are availed to the truly deserving population, and the escalating food subsidy burden is met. Other states such as Rajasthan and Odisha have already deleted the millions of ineligible beneficiaries through a data check and voluntary surrender drive.

Background

Under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, PMGKAY supplies free food grains to close to 800 million individuals. Beneficiaries include:

• Priority households - 5 kg of rice or wheat/person/month.
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) homesteads - 35 kg/family/month

The scheme, which was extended to a five-year term in 2023, is one of the biggest welfare programmes in India.

The reason why Reverification is required.

The beneficiary lists were developed more than ten years ago and now contain outdated information as a result of deaths, changes in income, duplicity, or even inactivity. States have been requested to screen out ineligible names and include new deserving households so they can target them better without cutting coverage.

Data Matching Findings

Massive data consolidation exercise compared the ration card details to the records in:

• CBDT & CBIC (taxpayers)
• MCA (company directors)
• Transport Ministry (vehicle owners)
• PM-Kisan database

Results indicate that the figure of almost 10% ineligible beneficiaries will include taxpayers and non-lifting ration months.

State-Level Actions

• Rajasthan: Elected out about 28 lakh ineligible names during surrender drives.
• Odisha: Removed around 7 lakh of beneficiaries (through death or increased income).
• Madhya Pradesh and others Begun Starting to verify beneficiaries with Aadhaar-based e-KYC, which is already done for 83% of all beneficiaries.

Financial Strain

Increasing procurement and storage and distribution costs have increased the difference between fixed issue prices versus actual costs in NFSA and have led to the inflation of subsidy bills. The Centre will ensure that storage is modernised and supply chains are connected to cooperatives to reduce cost. It is hoped that rationalising lists would liberate resources to the needy and waste.

Challenges and Concerns

States like Punjab have even accused the process of leading to a decrease in coverage. The Union government made it clear that states are those that are identified through NFSA norms. Aadhaar-based e-KYC has been ordered by the Supreme Court to enhance transparency and to minimize abuse.

Way Forward