12 oct 2012
‘Biometric system will helpremove bogus ration cards’
Dr Sanjay Kumar Cardiac Cardiothoracic Heart Surgeon India |
The number of ration cards falls to 1.43 crore
From 1.73 crore ration cards as against about 1.1 crore
families in 2010 in Karnataka, the number of ration cards have now been
squeezed down to about 1.43 crore, closer to the number of actual
families.
The Food and Civil Supplies Department,
which undertook the exercise of weeding out bogus cards in association
with the National Informatics Centre, is hopeful of eliminating at least
another 20 lakh cards by October 20, the extended last date for
converting temporary ration cards as permanent ration cards.
The
number of cards was about 1 crore till 2006, from which period of time
the government entrusted a private company (Comat Technologies) the task
of distributing digitised ration cards under the biometric system.
Between
2006 and 2010 when the contract was terminated, the company had issued
over 58 lakh cards without collecting biometric details and without
creating database.
The number of cards thus shot up
over and above the actual number of census families in the State, the
then Food and Civil Supplies Minster Shobha Karandlaje had told the
Legislative Assembly.
Database
After
terminating the services of Comat Technologies, the department, in
association with NIC, worked towards creating a strong database of
ration card holders in the State, said Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer
Affairs Minister D.N. Jeevaraj.
Mr. Jeevaraj told The Hindu
that the department did not spend even one tenth of the amount paid to
Comat Technologies (about Rs. 60 crore) to create the database, linking
ration cards to electricity meter revenue register numbers.
Besides
eliminating bogus ration cards, the database and the newly created
system allows an individual to apply for new ration card online
throughout the year, Mr. Jeevaraj said. The online application system
for new ration card, however, has been suspended till the ongoing
elimination process is completed, he added.
Biometric system
Food
and Civil Supplies Department Secretary B.A. Harish Gowda said that an
applicant has to provide the biometric information, fingerprint as well
as photograph, of himself and another member of the family, to obtain
the ration card.
A system is being introduced where
only these two will get groceries after authentication under public
distribution system, which will take final shape in a year.
Mr.
Harish Gowda said that unlike many other systems, including smart cards
which can be used even without the presence of the cardholder, the
biometric system is foolproof and cannot be misused. As a result, the
government subsidies will reach the intended beneficiary, he said.
He
said that biometric registration has been made mandatory for existing
card-holders, holders of temporary cards (issued by Comat Technologies)
as well as new applicants.
The government did not
spend any money on collecting biometric data; instead it allowed them to
collect Rs. 20 per applicant in urban areas. In gram panchayat limits,
the biometric details have to be collected by the panchayats after
linking the applicant to the property tax register, he said.
Of
the 58 lakh temporary ration card holders, only about 36 lakh had
applied for converting their cards into permanent cards, indicating that
many had held more than one ration card.
Making
biometric details mandatory has enabled department officials to identify
bogus applicants and weed out existing multiple cards, he said.
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