Green Ration Card Yojana: Benefitting the Weakest Section of Society

The Ration Cards are provided by the Government of India at concessional rates to the poor citizens of India. Ration cards are the official document allotted by the State Government of India to purchase food grains at subsidized charges from the Public Distribution System (PDS). The Public Distribution System (PDS) works under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) which serves as a common form of identification for Indians. The Green Ration Card Yojana aims to regulate price to safeguard the poor low-income bracket consumers and check the inflation by supplying food grains at a fair and reasonable process to the poor and vulnerable sections of society.

All the State Governments under the National Food Security Act have to identify the households that are eligible for subsidized food grains within the Public Distribution System and provide them with ration cards. After the National Food Security Act enactment, two types of ration cards are issued namely, Priority Household (PHH) ration cards and Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration cards.

The Priority Household ration cards are issued to the families who are eligible under the criteria set by the respective State Governments. Such households are entitled to 5-kilo grams of food grains per family member per month. The Antodaya Anna Yojana is issued to the poorest of poor households where 35-kilo grams of the food grains are provided per month.

About Green Ration Card

The Green Ration Card Yojana is the Central Government scheme through which a 5-kilo gram of food grains will be provided to the poor per month at the rate of Rs. 1 Kg per month. The person Below Poverty Line is also eligible to take advantage of the Green ration Card. The various Indian States including Jharkhand, Haryana, have started implementing the scheme from November 15. The last date to apply for the Green Ration Card Yojana was 30^th September which was later extended to 15^th October 2020. The Green Ration cards have been introduced by the Government to provide benefits to the poor section of society who are stripped of the benefits under the National Manure Protection Act by the State Governments.

Features in Brief

Following are the features of the Green Ration Card Yojana:

1. The ration will be provided to the cardholders at concessional rates under the Green Ration Card Yojana.
2. Such ration under the scheme will be provided at the rate of Rs. 1 per kilogram.
3. A 250 crore Budget has been laid by the Central Government to implement the Green Ration Card.
4. The Green Ration Card Scheme will be implemented all over India by the relevant State Governments by 2020 end or early 2021.
5. The families, individuals, or persons who are deprived of the benefits of the National Fertilizer Protection Act, can avail the benefits of the Green Ration Card.
6. People falling under the category of Below Poverty Line can also avail of the benefits of the Green Ration Card.
7. The State of Jharkhand has implemented the Green Ration Card Yojana from November 15^th, 2020.
8. Both online and offline form of application is available for applying under the Green Ration Card.

Reasons for Introducing the Green Ration Card Yojana

About one-third of the Indian population survives below the poverty line or below subsistence level which restricts their purchasing power keeping it low for their daily needs. Therefore, a continuous flow of essential commodities like food grains is required to satisfy their hunger and to save them from acute deprivation of essential food items. Poverty and economic inequalities are closely connected and there is a need to have a balanced distributed social justice system to reduce the gap between rich and poor in India. The government through various schemes and by introducing the Green Ration Card Yojana is constantly trying to assume the responsibility for securing social justice and distributive justice for poor sections of society.

The Modi Government is committed to achieving the ideals of a Welfare State, and through the Green Ration Card Yojana, the Government is expected to ensure the fruits of economic growth, increased productivity, and production to reach out to all sections of society through just and equitable distribution of resources and strengthen the socio-economic-political equality and assure the dignity of every individual in India. Another essential aim of Green Ration Card Yojana is to play an important role in the socio-economic development of the weaker sections of society and raise the quantum of essential items like food grains for mass consumption on an equitable basis at low prices.

Procedure for Applying under the Green Ration Card

Offline Process

• Step 1: – The first step to applying for the Green Ration Card Yojana through the offline mode is to visit the Fertilizer Supply Department, Public service center, or the PDS center.
• Step 2 : – After reaching the required office, you have to take the application form for the Green Ration Card Scheme from there.
• Step 3: – After obtaining the application form, enter all the relevant and important details and information that are asked in such application form.
• Step 4: – Now, attach all the required documents with the application form.
• Step 5: – Submit the application form in the same department from where it has been received.

In this way, you can apply for the Green Ration Card Yojana through the offline mode.

Apply Online

• Step 1: – The first step to applying for the Green Ration Card Yojana is to visit the official website of the food supply department of the respective state.
• Step 2: – Now, the home page will be open after you visit the official website.
• Step 3: – On the home page, click on the link to apply for the Green Ration Card Yojana.
• Step 4: – An application form will open in front of you where you have to enter all the important details required in the application form.
• Step 5: – Now, upload all the required documents asked under the application form.
• Step 6: – Click on the submit button, in this way the application procedure for the Green Ration Card Yojana will be completed.

Eligibility and Documents Required

The following are the eligibility and documents required for the Green Ration Card Yojana-

1. The applicant must be a permanent resident of India.
2. Aadhaar Card.
3. Bank Account details.
4. Mobile number.
5. Identity card.
6. Below Poverty Line Card.
7. Certificate of residence.

Aims and Objectives of Green Ration Card

The Government of India has launched the Green Ration Card Yojana to eliminate the higher income groups from availing the benefits of the free rice scheme and remove their names from the list of beneficiaries. The scheme aims to weed out Group A and B employees, income taxpayers, and certain categories of traders falling under the GST regime.

According to the Data collected from the Income Tax and Commercial Tax Departments, the statistics related to Group A and Group B employee’s preliminary assessment reveals that there would be around 70,000 income taxpayers in possession of the yellow ration cards and are entitled to free rice as per the existing policy. Under the new plan, the government will allow such cardholders to voluntarily opt-out of the free rice scheme, and simultaneously, the department will exclude the higher income groups from the purview of getting free rice. The uproar to restrict the freebies to the poor families has been growing as of the 3.35 lakh ration cardholders, 1.86 lakh are red ration cardholders which on average leads to the expenditure of around Rs. 20 crore for free rice on the government per month. Once the new policy on the free rice receives administrative approval, the expenditure towards procuring the rice under the scheme will come down by half.

Conclusion

A large portion of the Indian population does not have regular and assured access to an adequate quantity of food resulting in malnutrition, food hunger and widespread deaths by starvation occur every year in India. With the decline in average cereal consumption per year since the 1950s, the Government of India has to a large extent succeeded in averting the problem of chronic hunger in India. At Aatmnirbhar Sena, we are increasing the awareness about the Green Ration Card Yojana for the betterment of poverty-stricken ones.

The Green Ration Card Yojana is one such intervention of the Central Government playing a vital role in poverty eradication and this scheme has been instrumental in improving food security at the household level in India. The Green Ration Card Yojana aims a universal coverage with preferential treatment to the poor and works towards the welfare of the poor sections of the society.