HYDERABAD: The Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted to examine and recommend the eligibility criteria and modalities for the issue of new food security (ration) cards and health cards met for the first time on Monday.
Addressing the media, committee chairman Uttam Kumar Reddy, said, “The interim recommendations of the committee include issuance of smart cards with information which will have information embedded in QR code/ microchip/ barcode. The existing eligibility criteria will, however, be continued. It sought to remove the clause “land ownership alone is not a criterion, income from land must be less than the income ceiling for eligibility” as it is ambiguous, subjective and infructuous.”
As part of the exercise suggestions will be invited from all the MPs, MLAs and MLCs of all political parties on the existing eligibility criteria. The recommendations of the Saxena Committee constituted on the reference of the Supreme Court will be considered. The income limit for rural areas in Telangana has been fixed at `1.5 lakh per annum and `2 lakh per year in the urban areas.
The other criteria for the Annapurna food security cards are 65 years and above, little regular means of subsistence, no financial support from family or other sources.
There are 5,416 Annapurna food security cards given by the state and 5.66 lakh cards by the Centre. Those eligible for the central cards are landless agricultural labour, marginal farmers, rural artisans and craftsmen, informal sector workers, widows, terminally ill, disabled persons and elderly aged more 60 years, primitive tribal households, HIV positive individuals, leprosy patients, homeless people and families of deceased due to starvation.
The state has 84.3 lakh food security cards in the state in all amounting to 89.96 lakh cards. Of this, NFSA (Central) cards are 54.45 lakh and 35.51 lakh belong to the state. Between 2016 and 2023, 6,47,479 cards were issued, while 5,98,000 cards were deleted, the minister informed, adding the state currently had 89,21,907 cards.
The committee is headed by N. Uttam Kumar Reddy comprises his Cabinet colleagues Damodar Rajanarsimha and Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, civil supplies commissioner D.S. Chauhan as convener and health secretary Christina Z. Chongthu as special invitee.
