50,000 Categories Modified Under NFSA Verification in J&K Govt Says No Deserving Family Left Out of NFSA Coverage in J&K
Jammu: Asif Rashid
The Jammu and Kashmir Government on Tuesday asserted that no deserving family has been left out of the ambit of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, even as it maintained that beneficiary verification and review remain a continuous process to ensure transparency and fairness in the Public Distribution System.
Responding to a starred question raised by MLA Pirzada Farooq Ahmed Shah, the government informed the Legislative Assembly that the NFSA has been operational in Jammu and Kashmir since February 2016, providing subsidised food grains to lakhs of eligible households across the Union Territory.
The government clarified that inclusion of beneficiaries is carried out strictly under guidelines issued through S.O. 389 dated November 16, 2021, following thorough verification of genuine and deserving households. It further stated that the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs regularly reviews the beneficiary database to eliminate ineligible entries and include eligible families.
As part of the ongoing verification drive, officials have examined over 8.84 lakh doubtful beneficiaries, leading to modification of categories for more than 50,000 beneficiaries and deletion of over 6,000 ineligible beneficiaries from the NFSA database during the last year.
Addressing concerns about exclusion, the government told the House that no formal complaints regarding left-out deserving families have been received so far. It reiterated that all eligible households have been included in the ration card database as per the laid-down eligibility criteria, adding that any deserving family identified during future verification exercises will also be brought under NFSA coverage.
The government emphasised that the review process will continue to ensure that food security benefits reach only genuine beneficiaries across Jammu and Kashmir.
