7.1.10

Maharashtra plans biometric ration cards

In a move that aims to weed out bogus ration cards and curb black-marketing of subsidised food commodities, Maharashtra has decided to introduce bio-metric ration cards this year, going one up on an earlier proposal to shift to bar-coded ration cards. The state government had earlier decided to computerise ration cards with bar codes and had even invited tenders. However, it has now decided to cancel that project and introduce biometric cards instead, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Anil Deshmukh said. In the new system, families will have a card that will be read by a machine at the ration shop and match it with the registered finger prints of any of the users listed on the card. "We feel that the bar coded ration card could be misused as it could be used by anyone, not just the genuine card holder," Deshmukh said. "The best option is to introduce a bio-metric system which would scan fingerprints of the ration card holder and his spouse before giving them access to subsidised ration. We are planning to introduce this system in one year and Maharashtra will be the first state to do so in the country."
In the new system, the ration card would remain the same even if the card holder moves to another part of the state, curbing red tape and weeding out touts. In the existing system, a card holders have to surrender their old card and obtain a new one every time they change their address.

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