Srinagar, Sep 30 ( KNS): Jammu and Kashmir has added 2,25,360 beneficiaries to its ration rolls while deleting 56,664 beneficiaries since January 1 this year, according to district-wise data placed before the Legislative Assembly.
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‎The data shows a substantial churn in the Public Distribution System (PDS), with additions exceeding deletions by 1,68,696 beneficiaries during the period.
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‎Of the beneficiaries added across J&K, 1,50,211 belong to the Priority Household (PHH) category, 65,260 to the Non-Priority Household (NPHH) category and 9,889 to the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) category. On the deletion side, 20,525 PHH, 24,655 NPHH and 11,484 AAY beneficiaries were removed from the rolls.
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‎The Jammu division accounted for 1,36,939 additions, compared with 34,950 deletions, resulting in a net increase of nearly 1.02 lakh beneficiaries.
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‎Within the division, Reasi recorded the highest number of additions at 21,510, followed by Poonch with 20,724, Rajouri with 17,739, Jammu with 16,110 and Udhampur with 19,394.
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‎Doda added 11,967 beneficiaries, Ramban 13,173, Kathua 8,563, Kishtwar 7,369 and Samba 390.
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‎The deletion figures, meanwhile, show considerable variation. Samba recorded 9,264 deletions, followed by Kishtwar with 10,982 and Jammu with 4,782, while Doda recorded 4,174 deletions.
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‎The Kashmir division recorded 88,421 additions and 21,714 deletions, translating into a net addition of 66,707 beneficiaries.
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‎Anantnag recorded the highest additions in Kashmir at 17,447, followed by Kulgam at 15,201 and Baramulla at 12,529. Kupwara added 10,225 beneficiaries, Badgam 9,738, Pulwama 4,314, Srinagar North 5,025 and Srinagar South 4,911.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp Channel
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‎Bandipora recorded 3,374 additions, while Ganderbal and Shopian recorded 3,243 and 2,414 respectively.
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‎On deletions, Anantnag recorded 7,259, Kulgam 4,759 and Baramulla 4,567. Srinagar North recorded 2,151 deletions, while Srinagar South recorded 687. Bandipora had 612 deletions.
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‎The figures for Inderwal constituency show 3,937 PHH beneficiaries added, while 128 AAY and 522 NPHH beneficiaries were deleted.
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‎The government, however, said that no ration card in Kishtwar district, including Inderwal, was found fake, duplicate, invalid, cancelled or deleted during the verification exercise.
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‎The department said it has achieved 100 per cent Aadhaar seeding of ration cards. It clarified that verification does not ordinarily result in cancellation of an entire ration card merely because an individual member is found ineligible; corrections are instead made at the beneficiary level to protect the entitlements of other eligible members of the family.
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‎The department also said beneficiaries identified as “Silent Ration Cards” are suspended for the prescribed period rather than deleted outright, with entitlements restored after the beneficiary approaches the department and the case is examined under applicable norms.
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‎The government said eligibility is being determined under S.O. 389 of 2021 and not on the basis of Chulha Parchi. Beneficiaries are being identified according to the NESA Rules, 2021, using data obtained from the 2011 Census.
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‎It said fresh ration cards would be issued under the relevant categories whenever the Centre communicates revised beneficiary targets to include newly identified families.(KNS)