Eligible beneficiaries across J&K enrolled under NFSA: Govt

Farzana Syed
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07 Feb 2026

Srinagar, Feb 06: The government of Jammu and Kashmir has stated that all the eligible beneficiaries and deserving families in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have been enrolled under National Food Safety Act (NFSA) in the Public Distribution System database of the department and no deserving family has been left out. This was revealed in response to a question asked by MLA Farooq Ahmad Shah in Legislative Assembly seeking details regarding implementation of NFSA in Jammu and Kashmir. Providing details , the house was infomed that the National Food Security Act-2013 has been implemented in J&K since February 2016. Te house was informed that a total of 4526361 beneficiaries have been included in Jammu divison and a total number of 5406622 beneficiaries have been enrolled in Kashmir division. The government informed the house that a total of 9932983 beneficiaries were enrolled in Jammu and Kashmir under National Food Safety Act. Regarding the criteria adopted for identification of beneficiaries the house was informed that criteria adopted for inclusion of ration cards is on the basis of S.O 389 Dated: 76.11.2021 after proper verification of genuine/deserving benefi ciaries. The house was further informed that the review of beneficiary coverage is a continuous process to ensure that only eligible beneficiaries avail their entitled food grains under NFSA and weeding out the ineligible beneficiaries. The government further stated that the deserving eligible beneficiaries are included under the ambit of NFSA and the ineligible beneficiaries owing to improved socio-economic conditions as per the laid down guidelines are placed in appropriate categories. Moreover, Department of FCS&CA under rightful Targeting has verified more than 8.84 lakh doubtful beneficiaries and consequently categories of more than 50 thousand beneficiaries has been modified and more than 6000 beneficiaries have been deleted from NFSA database during the last one year, thereby cleansing the data which is ongoing process. In response to a query on complaints regarding exclusion of eligible families from NFSA in Jammu and Kashmir, the house was informed that no such complaint has been received by this Department so far However, all eligible beneficiaries have been enrolled/ included in the ration card database of the department bas per their eligibility in the relevant category in light of extant rules. The government further stated that the department takes punitive action against the erring Fair price Shop dealers for violation under NFSA, fine to the tune of Rs, 3506092 has been imposed and recovered from defaulting Fair Price Shop Dealers during the last two years.