Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has initiated the process of providing ration cards to all beneficiaries through PDS Sashaktikaran (empowerment) Pakhwada (fortnight) from Wednesday across the state. Principal secretary of the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, Himani Pande, informed that the exercise is aimed at purging the public distribution system.

“Under the directions of the chief minister, the process of providing ration cards to those who have been so far deprived of it is being accelerated. To achieve this, the PDS Sashaktikaran Pakhwada is being organised from February 1 to 14, 2023,” said Pande.

“This would entail initiatives for the correction of Aadhar details in ration cards, deletion of the names of beneficiaries registered across multiple ration cards, removal of the names of the deceased, identification of beneficiaries not taking food grains for six months, verification of duplicate Aadhar number beside a host of other people-centric measures,” she added.

Sources in the department said that as part of the fortnight-long drive, steps would also be taken to extend benefits to the beneficiaries of Daal-Bhaat centres through Daal-Bhaat apps and to pace up the transition of offline dealers to online in a seamless manner.

“Those taking food from the Daal Bhaat centres (where the poor get food at only Rs 5 per person) would be encouraged to be registered through the app. Apart from this, the public distribution system (PDS) dealers who have network facilities would have to shift to online transactions. Only those PDS dealers (around 500) who still are in network dark zones will be allowed to function in an offline mode,” said the source.

During the campaign, priority would be given to securing better health facilities for the residents of the state.

“Instructions have been given to make free Ayushman cards through e-KYC of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and Jharkhand Food Security Scheme (JFSS) beneficiaries so that they are covered under Ayushman Bharat Mukhya Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana at a rapid pace. Camps will be organised through Pragya Kendra (common service centres) between February 1 and 15,” said sources.

Under Ayushman Bharat Chief Minister Jan Arogya Yojana, free-of-cost Ayushman cards will be made through e-KYC of the covered beneficiaries. For this, camps will be organised every day for families having pink/yellow/ green ration cards.

Such families will be eligible for Ayushman cards under Ayushman Bharat. For the registration of a beneficiary, it will be necessary for him or her to be present at the Pragya Kendra with Aadhaar card, ration card and mobile number.