A post accompanying a clipping of a news article which says that according to the latest central government guidelines, ration card would be cancelled if not used for three months is being widely shared across social media platforms. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Central government has issued guidelines saying ration card would be cancelled if not used for three months.
Fact: Central government has not issued any such guidelines saying ration cards would be cancelled if not used for three months. PIB through a tweet also stated the same and rated the news as fake. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Google search with relevant keywords led us to a tweet by PIB which fact-checked the claim’. According to this tweet, the central government has not issued any guidelines saying ration cards not used for three months will get cancelled. And their tweet has categorically rated the news as fake.
Further, the National Food Security Act, 2013 did not stipulate any guidelines for cancellation of ration cards. According to this act, state governments are entitled to prepare guidelines and to identify priority households. Accordingly, guidelines related to eligibility and exclusion issued by few states can be read here and here. The act also empowers the central government to make rules in consultation with states related to a few aspects of the act. Department of Food and Public Distribution which is the nodal agency for public distribution under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution prepares the rules on behalf of the central government under the NFSA. However, we could not find any notice on the department website saying ration card will be cancelled if not for three months.
In the light of the central government’s initiative of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ system under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, posts like these are being circulated on social media platforms with misleading claims.
To sum it up, central government has not issued any guidelines saying ration card would be cancelled if not used for three months.
