As many as 44,279 families in Keralam are set to lose their eligibility for free ration benefits in the priority category based on a directive from the Centre to remove households that have not availed of their ration entitlement for six consecutive months.

The directive, issued based on monitoring of the State’s public distribution system (PDS), will affect 5,370 Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card holders (6,401 beneficiaries) and 38,909 Priority Household (PHH) card holders (60,300 beneficiaries).

The official PDS figures indicate that the households, comprising 66,701 beneficiaries, have not collected their ration entitlement even once during the last six months.

Among households that do not come under the purview of the National Food Security Act, 2013, 5,62,494 ration card holders (15,40,529 beneficiaries) have not availed their ration over the same period. These include 4,33,811 NPNS (Non-Priority Non-Subsidised), 1,19,166 NPS (Non-Priority Subsidised) and 9,517 NPI (Non-Priority Institution) ration card holders.

The Central government’s order comes in the wake of concerns over the alleged diversion of ration commodities into the black market. As part of the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme, the public distribution system has come under close scrutiny for the last two years, sources said.

According to official sources, recent raids have found that the ration quota allocated to households that regularly fail to collect their entitlement is being diverted and sold illegally in several parts of the state. The scale of the alleged diversion came to light during enforcement operations this Onam season, when Food and Civil Supplies officials seized around 75,000 kg of ration rice from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts alone.

Notably, over 6,000 kg of rice and wheat, believed to have been diverted from ration shops in Keralam and Tamil Nadu, were seized from a house in Parassala two days ago.

The operation exposed a suspected interstate racket that is active in procuring rice distributed free of cost through the public distribution system in Tamil Nadu, transporting it to Keralam and selling it commercially.

Intelligence inputs have indicated that the diverted rice is moved to private warehouses along the state’s borders before being polished, packed under branded labels and sold in the open market at prices ranging from ₹48 to ₹56 a kg.

Opportunity for other eligible applicants

Official sources point out that the deletion of ration card holders in the priority categories would create an opportunity for other eligible applicants, who have been waiting to be included in the priority list.

Nonetheless, those families who are excluded from the list will not be permanently barred from accessing priority benefits. Those seeking re-inclusion will have to submit fresh applications through Akshaya centres.