SRINAGAR: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Satish Sharma, has stated that eligible left-out family members are being regularly added to household ration cards in Jammu and Kashmir. He made the announcement while responding to a query raised by legislator Balwant Singh Mankotia in the Assembly.
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The Minister informed the House that 98.52 lakh beneficiaries, including those under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), Priority Household (PHH), and Non-Priority Household (NPHH) categories, have been covered under the PM Ration Yojana in Jammu and Kashmir. Of these, 56,977 beneficiaries belong to the Chenani Constituency.
Sharma further stated that the government is considering opening new Fair Price Shops under the J&K Targeted Public Distribution System, with elected representatives being consulted to assess the requirement. However, he clarified that bifurcation of ration cards has been halted to maintain the assigned targets under the Public Distribution System (PDS), particularly for AAY households, where the entitlement is 35 kg per household.
Highlighting the implications of issuing fresh ration cards, he explained that creating new households within the system would require additional food grain allocation and could increase the burden on other government welfare schemes that rely on the PDS database. However, children born between 2011 and 2016 have already been included in household ration cards to meet their nutritional needs.
The Minister also provided category-wise data, stating that 8.72 lakh beneficiaries fall under AAY, 58.10 lakh under PHH, and 31.70 lakh under NPHH in Jammu and Kashmir. In Chenani, 2,451 beneficiaries are covered under AAY, 31,780 under PHH, and 22,746 under NPHH.