SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir saw around 1.5 lakh ration cards deleted between 2021 and 2025, according to data presented by the Union government in the Lok Sabha.
The figures are part of the state-wise and year-wise data on ration cards deleted under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), placed before Parliament on Wednesday.
The government said the deletions covered the last five years, with the data provided separately for each state and Union Territory. Jammu and Kashmir is listed separately in the annexure along with Ladakh and other states and UTs.
Responding to a question on whether beneficiaries faced exclusion because of biometric authentication failures or digital verification problems, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said no such instances had been reported to the department from Maharashtra.
The government said multiple authentication options, including fingerprint, iris and Aadhaar-based OTP, have been provided under the public distribution system. It added that other eligible family members can authenticate if one member’s authentication fails, while a nominee facility is available in exceptional cases.
The ministry also said e-PoS machines can operate in offline mode in areas with limited or no internet connectivity and that states have been advised not to deny subsidised foodgrains to genuine beneficiaries because of authentication, connectivity, technical or biometric issues.
The government further said it conducted a concurrent evaluation of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana during 2025-26 to strengthen monitoring and assess implementation of the food security programme.
