28-02-2017, 09:29 AM
Food security regime
The senior official said the state cabinet has asked the administration to be ready with a presentation on the food security plan initiated by the former UPA government at the Center, after which a final decision will be made to link them.
"We are going to divide our presentation into three parts.
First, we have to present the current scenario to the government, which will help them to measure the situation on the ground. We will also present a financial picture that would help assess the cost structure.
"We will finally put our suggestions, after considering that, the Council of Ministers will take a last call," he said.
"This is where we will suggest to the government that link ration cards with Aadhaar numbers so that the right beneficiary gets benefits and the role of intermediaries can be contained," Kapoor said.
At present, the number of people below the poverty line (BPL) in Maharashtra is around 7 crore, while 1.8 crore are registered as beneficiaries of the poverty line (APL).
About 2.32 crore ration cards are already digitized with the state administration. Information and Technology Director Virendra Singh said the administration is ready to link Aadhaar numbers to the ration card holders at any given time.
"Around 9.3 crore people have signed up so far for Aadhaar cards with 8.6 crore cards already generated. We would like to ensure that more than 95 percent of people have Aadhaar cards by March 2015," said Singh.
He added that upon receipt of Cabinet approval, a pilot project would be launched in two districts, one of them Wardha. If the answer is satisfactory, it will also be extended to other districts.
"Wardha is 100 percent Aadhaar signed up. We will make a final decision on the other district soon," he said.