RATION CARDS

What is a Ration card? :- this is a type of documentation that is officiated by

the Indian government which is created by the state governments of India and
given to households that meet the government's eligibility criteria to purchase
food grain at a subsidized price from the Public Distribution System (PDS) (under
the National Food Security Act or NFSA). Ration cards are also used to serve as a
general method of identification for many Indians.
The process of implementing and applying ration cards is as follows:

The National Food Security Act(NFSA) needs the states governments of India to

identify the various households to be grouped into either priority or Antyodaya
(AAY) categories within a single year from the commencement of the National
Food Security Act (NFSA) (this is enforced under both Section 10 1a and section
10 1b) and place the list of the identified and eligible households in the public
domain[2]. After the enactment of National Food Security Act (NFSA), all the
state governments developed a set of eligibility criteria to identify those
households for whom ration cards must be issued. As per the eligibility criteria,
new ration cards were provided to eligible households. In states such as Madhya
Pradesh or Bihar, the state governments had used existing data such as that
found in the  Socio-Economic Caste Census in order to identify the eligible
households and provide them with new ration cards. Different states used
different methods, for example in states like Odisha and Chhattisgarh The
eligible households had to apply in order to receive the new ration cards by way
of a process of self-declaration.

As per the provisions of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), all the state
governments in India are required to pinpoint the households that meet the
eligibility criteria for purchasing food grain at subsidized rates from the Public
Distribution System (PDS) and provide them with ration cards.
There are two types of ration cards provided by the National Food
Security Act (NFSA) :
 Antyodaya (AAY) ration card- The Antyodaya(AAY) ration cards are
issued only to the "poorest of poor" households, as determined by prevailing the
eligibility criteria set up by the Indian state government . Each Antyodaya (AAY)
household is entitled to 35 kilograms of food grain.

 Priority ration card -The priority ration cards are issued to those

households only that meet the eligibility criteria of these cards set by the
people’s state government.
Once the card is issued to a household that is eligible to avail its benefits, the
priority household is entitled to 5 kilograms of food grain Per member.