Ration card to be mandatory for availing benefits of Maiyan Samman Yojana

The Women, Child Development and Social Security Department will now make ration cards mandatory before transferring the aid to Maiyan Samman Yojana. This move comes amid the large-scale fraud in registration for Maiyan Samman Yojana. Making ration cards mandatory will ensure that the beneficiary is a domicile of Jharkhand.

According to officials, the department will get every beneficiary’s name verified with the ration card before transferring the aid to their bank accounts. Government sources informed that the nodal department has sought approval from the Food and Supply Department to use the Application Program Interface (API) of the ration card portal.

As per the information received, the nodal department has also decided to check the actual status of the beneficiaries through many other software interfaces, which include, the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), National Informatics Center (NIC), and Public Financial Management System (PFMS).

With this, the social Security wing will be able to check whether the age of the female beneficiary is between 18 to 50 years and if she is a resident of Jharkhand or not. “A ration card is mandatory to avail of the benefits of Maiyan Samman Yojana. After API approval by the Food and Supply Department, it will be confirmed that the beneficiary's name is registered in the ration card, and she is a resident of Jharkhand,” said Social Security Director Samira S.

She added that the Food and Supply Department is linking Aadhaar to the ration card, which will make Aadhaar verification of the beneficiaries easy.

According to the official, if the Aadhaar of the beneficiary is not linked to the Public Distribution System (PDS), then the Women and Child Development Department will do Aadhaar verification tthrough the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Meanwhile, making a major change from April this year, financial assistance will be given only to those beneficiaries who have Aadhaar-linked single bank accounts.