Got an emergency? Get a ration card on the spot

Keeping the Assembly polls in mind, the government has decided to issue ration cards on the spot.

This will benefit those in an emergency, Food and Civil Supplies Minister U T Khader said. "Those who need a ration card during a medical emergency or under the bidaai (marriage) scheme will get it on the spot. They have to just submit their income and caste certificates," Khader told reporters on Thursday.

Earlier this year, the department of food and civil supplies relaxed norms for ration cards by allowing applicants to submit a self-declaration that their annual family income was below Rs 1.2 lakh.

The on-the-spot system will be put in place from January, by which time the department hopes to issue BPLcards to all those who have applied.

"We have received 16 lakh applications, of which 10 lakh cards have been issued. By December 15, all the applications will be processed," he said.

"The delay was caused as the income and caste certificates are issued by the revenue department which has now introduced a similar over-the-counter system to issue the certificates," he said.

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