Govt banks on tech to weed out bogus BPL card holders

Yediyurappa administration is doggedly pursuing this to reduce the burden of subsidies

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In a first, the government is attempting a data mining exercise to weed out bogus food subsidy beneficiaries even as Karnataka saw 26 lakh new households becoming poorer, going by the latest number of BPL cards that have been issued.

The B S Yediyurappa administration, which is looking to rationalise expenditure in the post-pandemic recovery period, is doggedly pursuing this to reduce the burden of subsidies.

Since 2017, the government has issued 26.87 lakh new BPL (ration) cards and another 77,000 applications are pending. The government has temporarily stopped receiving new applications due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mar 31 deadline

“We’re seriously looking at (reducing) the burden of subsidies,” Additional Chief Secretary (Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs) B H Anil Kumar told DH. The government has set a March 31 deadline for ineligible beneficiaries to surrender their ration cards.

Since 2017, as many as 2.28 lakh bogus or ineligible cards have been deleted.

Besides local-level identification of beneficiaries by officials, Kumar said his department had started using technology.

“We have Aadhaar, BPL, motor vehicles, GST and Bhoomi (land) data. We’re looking at all of them to compare and see who comes under the exclusion criteria. Based on that, we’ll come out with a list,” he said.

Those employed in the government or any of its undertakings, taxpayers, those holding 3 hectares of dry or irrigated land in rural areas and owners of properties spread over 1,000 sqft or more in urban areas, those owning a 4-wheeler for personal use and those with an annual income of over Rs 1.2 lakh are considered ineligible to possess priority household ration cards.

According to Kumar, there is a clamour for BPL cards.

“There are 21 government schemes for which BPL is a requirement. That’s the incentive for people to get a BPL card,” he pointed out.

For example, every member of a BPL card household gets 5 kg rice and 2 kg wheat free of cost monthly under the Anna Bhagya scheme. Those who have an Antyodaya card get 35 kg rice free.

The government procures rice at Rs 3 per kg for 2,17,403 metric tonnes allocated to Karnataka every month under the Food Security Act. Beyond this, the government pays Rs 2,500 per quintal to the Food Corporation of India.

In the current 2020-21 fiscal, the government has earmarked Rs 3,257 crore for the Anna Bhagya scheme.

Ration meant for the poor find their way to the market where subsidised food grains are sold for a higher price. Between April and December 2020, authorities conducted 430 raids and 425 persons were arrested, leading to recovery of items worth Rs 9.7 crore.