WB Ration Card-Bank A/c Link: The central government is planning to link the customer’s bank account with the ration card. This is what the report claims. Meanwhile, the Mamata Banerjee government has also accepted the proposal. It is to be noted that earlier, the ration card has already been linked with Aadhaar. Meanwhile, the Aadhaar card of the customers is also linked with the bank account through KYC. In this context, the state government’s statement is that the bank account information of the ration card owners can be found through Aadhaar. Meanwhile, the state government has agreed to the proposal of the center, which has put ration dealers on their hands.
Earlier, the report claimed that the Union Ministry of Food and Public Distribution is going to propose necessary amendments in the guidelines related to ration distribution for linking bank accounts with ration cards. In this regard, the Union Food Secretary held a meeting with the food secretaries of the states on February 28. In the meeting with the food secretaries of the states, the Union Food Secretary proposed that amendments be made to the 2015 guidelines related to ration distribution control. This has created a lot of speculation. Discussions have begun on whether any changes will be made to the ration system by linking accounts to ration cards through this amendment.
Possible Changes in Ration System: Bank Account Linking
The question has arisen: Is the central government planning to transfer subsidy money directly to consumers’ accounts based on the price of food items distributed in ration? That is why states have been asked to collect customers’ bank account information.
Meanwhile, it is reported that the Special Secretary of the Food and Supplies Department of West Bengal sent a letter on Monday to the Joint Secretary of the Union Ministry of Food and Public Distribution, Ravi Shankar. The letter said that instead of linking bank accounts with ration cards, the account information can be obtained from the National Payments Corporation.
On April 1, ration dealers will go to New Delhi to discuss major changes in the ration system.
Currently, under the National Food Security Act, about 81.35 crore people receive five kg of rice or wheat per person every month. It has been suggested that when filling the e-KYC form of the head of the family during the distribution of new ration cards, states should also collect the customer’s bank account details along with linking Aadhaar to the ration card.