SRINAGAR 28 Jul : Jammu and Kashmir has removed 43,183 ineligible beneficiaries from its ration card database under the Union Government’s Rightful Targeting exercise, while 111,057 cases were flagged for verification, according to data presented by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
In Ladakh, 3,529 cases were flagged and 677 ineligible beneficiaries were deleted from the ration card database, the ministry said in its reply to Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1010.
The Union Government said JK was allocated 468.797 thousand tonnes (4.69 lakh tonnes) of foodgrains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in each of the three financial years from 2023-24 to 2025-26. Ladakh’s allocation remained at 9.444 thousand tonnes (9,444 tonnes) annually during the same period.
Central assistance released to JK under the scheme for intra-State movement of foodgrains and Fair Price Shop dealers’ margin under the National Food Security Act stood at Rs 139.96 crore in 2023-24, Rs 89.82 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 54.54 crore in 2025-26. Ladakh received Rs 1.38 crore in 2023-24, while no assistance was reported for the following two financial years.
Nationally, 59,574,963 cases were flagged under the Rightful Targeting exercise, of which 23,455,907 beneficiaries had been removed from ration card databases, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said. JK’s deleted cases accounted for about 0.18 per cent of the national total, while Ladakh’s accounted for around 0.003 per cent.
Maharashtra recorded the highest number of deletions at 7,344,074, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 3,121,226. JK’s 43,183 deletions were considerably lower in absolute terms than those in the larger States, while Ladakh recorded one of the lowest figures nationally.
The ministry said the exercise is supported by the NIRMAL real-time verification architecture, which enables cross-checking of PMGKAY beneficiary records with databases maintained by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Public Financial Management System, GSTN/CBIC, Ministry of Road Transport through VAHAN, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare through Agri Stack, EPFO, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Railways and the Department of Posts.
According to the Union Government, automated verification and cross-validation through these databases facilitate the continuous identification of potentially ineligible beneficiaries, regular updating of ration card records and removal of ineligible beneficiaries, with the stated objective of improving transparency in the Public Distribution System and ensuring that benefits reach eligible beneficiaries.
