Maharashtra Seeks Higher PDS Quota, Mulls Raising Ration Card Income Ceiling
Officials said the Food and Civil Supplies Department recently wrote to the Central government, seeking to raise the prescribed beneficiary limit under the NFSA from the existing 7,00,16,684 to 8.88 crore
MUMBAI: In view of Maharashtra's rising population, the BJP-led Mahayuti government has urged the Centre to increase the state's foodgrain allocation under the Public Distribution System (PDS) to cover 8.88 crore beneficiaries, up from the current 7.16 crore under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The state is also considering raising the annual income ceiling for Orange Ration Card holders, who are now known as Priority Household (PHH) ration card holders, from Rs 59,000 to around Rs two lakh, expanding eligibility for subsidised foodgrains.
Officials said the Food and Civil Supplies Department recently wrote to the Central government, seeking to raise the prescribed beneficiary limit under the NFSA from the existing 7,00,16,684 to 8.88 crore. They said that when the NFSA was implemented, Maharashtra's population was around 11 crore. However, over the past 13 years, the state's population has grown to around 14 crore. "In such a scenario, we have written to the Central government seeking an increase in the number of beneficiaries under the NFSA," the officials said.
The NFSA has been implemented in the state of Maharashtra with effect from February 1, 2014. Under the Act, Maharashtra has been allocated coverage of 54.32% of the rural population (46.971 million beneficiaries) and 45.34% of the urban population (23.045 million beneficiaries), taking the total number of beneficiaries fixed for the state to 70.016 million (7.0016 crore).
Following the implementation of the NFSA, the Maharashtra government had fixed the annual family income ceiling at Rs 44,000 for beneficiaries in rural areas and Rs 59,000 for beneficiaries in urban areas eligible for subsidised foodgrains under the Priority Household (PHH) category. With wages in both rural and urban areas having increased significantly over the years, the state government is also considering raising the income ceiling for PHH ration card holders. To this end, it constituted a committee headed by Chandrakant Dange, Controller of Rationing and Director of Civil Supplies, to recommend revised eligibility criteria. The revised income ceiling was decided after taking into account factors such as hunger indicators, wages of skilled and unskilled workers in both the organised and unorganised sectors, and the state's per capita income.
A senior official, requesting anonymity, said the Dange committee had submitted its report in April, recommending an increased income limit of around Rs 1.80 lakh in urban areas and around Rs 1.20 lakh in rural areas. "The food and civil supply department is deliberating over the report of the Dange committee. Soon, it will prepare a proposal to get approval from the state cabinet. The proposal is expected to come before the state cabinet within the next month," the senior official said.
According to the senior official, if the recommendation of the Dange committee is implemented, it would increase the number of beneficiaries by around five percent in urban areas, especially in Mumbai and the Mumbai suburbs.
