Hyderabad:Civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy announced that the Telangana government is preparing to issue 10 lakh new white ration cards after Sankranti. This move will benefit an estimated 31 lakh people.
Replying to a query during the question hour in the Telangana Legislative Council on Monday, the minister explained that the state government will use data from the recently-conducted caste survey to finalise eligibility for the new ration cards.
The initiative is projected to add a financial burden of `956 crore annually to the state exchequer. He mentioned that over 18 lakh applications were pending for more than a decade with MeeSeva centres for adding names to existing ration cards. The issuance of new cards aims to address this backlog while replacing old ration cards with smart cards to enhance efficiency.
Uttam Kumar Reddy highlighted that the new white ration card scheme was conceptualised under Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s leadership. A sub-committee, chaired by the minister himself and including ministers Damodar Rajanarasimha and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, held multiple meetings to finalise eligibility criteria. These recommendations, based on the guidelines of the Sachchidananda Saxena Committee as well as input from MLAs, MLCs, and MPs, have been submitted to the state Cabinet for approval.
In addition to new cards, the government is addressing gaps in fair price shop operations. Measures are being taken to fill vacancies in these shops, while new outlets will be established in recently formed gram panchayats and tandas.
Acknowledging criticism of ‘doddu rice,’ a coarse rice variety distributed through fair price shops, the minister admitted that it is underutilised and has been prone to diversion. To improve quality and utilisation, the government will now distribute fine rice to all white ration cardholders.
Providing historical context, the minister outlined changes in ration card distribution before and after the formation of Telangana. Before bifurcation, the Telangana region had a total of 91.68 lakh ration cards for a beneficiary base of 3.38 crore people. Following the state’s formation, 2.46 lakh cards were cancelled for beneficiaries who moved to Andhra Pradesh.
Between 2016 and 2023, Telangana issued 6.47 lakh new food security cards, benefiting 20.69 lakh people. Simultaneously, 5.98 lakh cards were cancelled after being deemed ineligible, leading to a net addition of 86,000 beneficiaries over a decade. As of now, the state has 89.95 lakh white ration cards, covering 2.81 crore beneficiaries.
Under the National Food Security Act, the central government provides 54 lakh ration cards for 1.91 crore people. The state supplements this with 35 lakh food security cards, benefiting an additional 89 lakh people.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the new initiative, with the introduction of smart cards and fine rice distribution, aims to modernise the food distribution system and address long-standing gaps in food security.
