Government extends deadline for linking Aadhaar with ration cards

The announcement came following a newspapers report that ration cards of those who do not provide Aadhaar number will be cancelled.

“The timeline given to all States/UTs, under the Aadhaar notification of the Department of Food and Public Distribution dated 07.02.2017 (as amended from time-to-time) to complete the seeding of Aadhaar numbers with all ration cards/beneficiaries, has been extended up to 30/09/2020 by the Department,” the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution release said.

The government further clarified that that no genuine beneficiary/household shall be denied from entitled quota of food grains, or their names/ration cards shall not be deleted/cancelled only on the ground of not possessing an Aadhaar number.

It has also issued instructions that food grains under NFSA shall not be denied due to failure of biometric / Aadhaar authentication of beneficiary because of poor biometrics of the beneficiary, issues with network/connectivity/linking or any other technical reasons.

“During the current crisis situation, a pragmatic approach is needed so that no poor or deserving person or family is denied access to food grains. In due course linking of Aadhar to the ration card and beneficiaries will ensure that no person entitled to such ration is denied such access,” the ministry said.