On December 20, 2021, the Department of Food and Public Distribution extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar to Ration Cards to March 31, 2022. Previously, in 2017, a notification was issued requiring all eligible beneficiaries entitled to subsidised foodgrains under the National Food Security Act 2013 [NFSA], who do not have an Aadhaar number or have not yet enrolled for Aadhaar but wanted to obtain subsidised food grains, to apply for Aadhaar enrolment by September 30, 2019, and to link Aadhaar with Ration Cards/Beneficiaries to enable correct beneficiary identification and rightful supply of subsidised foodgrains under the NFSA.
It was further underlined that no beneficiary or family will be removed from the list of eligible beneficiaries or households just because they did not have an Aadhaar number, and shall not be denied subsidised foodgrains or cash transfers of food subsidy under the NFSA due to biometric/Aadhaar authentication failure due to network/connection/linking issues/poor biometric of the beneficiary or other technical reasons.
TO READ THE OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION CLICK HERE