SC sought Centre’s response in “ration cards cancellation” case

What is the news?

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to respond to a plea. The plea is related to the cancellation of over three-crore ration cards for not linking them to Aadhaar.

What is the case?

• A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court by the mother of an 11-year-old. The child died in 2017 allegedly after the ration card of her family was cancelled for not being linked to Aadhaar.
• The Supreme Court sought responses from the Centre on such allegations. During that time, the Centre had denied the allegations and said that the cancelled cards were bogus.

What did the Supreme Court say?

• The Supreme Court said that it was a very serious matter if the Centre had cancelled around three-crore ration cards of tribal and poor people solely because they could not get biometrically linked with Aadhaar.
• Hence, the Supreme Court has said that it will hear the matter and has asked the Centre to respond in four weeks.
• Also, the SC has sought a report on the implementation of the grievances redressal mechanism. It is contained in Sections 14, 15 and 16 of the National Food Security Act, 2013

What are Ration Cards?

• Ration card is an official document issued by state governments in India to households. The Household should be eligible to purchase subsidized food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). They also serve as a common form of identification for many Indians.

Types of Ration Cards:

• Under the NFSA, all state governments have to identify eligible households under the Public Distribution System and provide them with ration cards. There are two types of ration cards under NFSA:
  • Priority Household(PHH) ration card: It has gotten issued to households that meet the eligibility criteria set by their state government. Each priority household is entitled to 5 kilograms of food grain per member per month.
  • Antyodaya Anna Yojana(AAY) ration card: It is issued to the poorest of poor households. Each AAY household is entitled to 35 kilograms of food grain per month.

Source: The Hindu