Rajasthan: Over 1.2 cr names removed from food security beneficiary list, claim officials

“A Task Force was constituted under the Chief Secretary which trimmed the list, beginning in April last year, while reviewing the eligibility criteria,” he said.

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As the trimmed figure of 4.26 crore also included new eligible beneficiaries, who had been earlier left out of the list, the actual deletion was clearly above 1.20 crore. The department, however, claims that it does not have the actual deletion figures “readily available.”

Agarwal argued that the discrepancy between what was stated in the Assembly and actual figure likely arose due to difference in the actual beneficiary list and the one officially recorded at the directorate, with the former being higher.

“We had 5.26 crore beneficiaries recorded at the directorate level then, while an additional 20 lakh — recorded at the local level — were also availing the scheme,” he said.

According to Centre’s criteria, 65 per cent of Rajasthan’s 6.85 crore population, or about 4.46 crore people, can avail the FSA benefits. However, Bhadana alleged that the Ashok Gehlot government had relaxed the norms for political mileage as elections were scheduled to be held in 2013. Congress whip Govind Singh Dotasara, however, demanded action officials who allowed ineligible names to be included in the list. The FSA was launched in Rajasthan in October 2013 and Assembly polls were held in the state in December that year.

Rajasthan subsequently created 13 types of exclusions (seven urban and six rural) in the eligibility criteria. Congress spokesperson Archana Sharma accused the BJP of removing several eligible persons through its exercise. She claimed that ruling party in the state was now under pressure to include these names back in the list and was also likely to relax the stringent exclusion criteria.

Officials, however, said that while eligible persons could only avail 2.8 kg of foodgrain earlier, they were now receiving their entire share of 5 kg per month, while the existing Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, were receiving 35 kg per household per month.

Currently, the state government can add about 10 lakh more to the list, before it hits the ceiling of 4.46 crore beneficiaries. While the current number of beneficiaries is at 4.26 crore, Agarwal said that about 8-10 lakh beneficiaries from tribal areas were set to be included in the list.