Aadhaar seeding weeded out 10 lakh bogus ration cards in TN: Ram Vilas Paswan

He said that a total of 2.62 core bogus ration cards were found in total across the country since the Government mandated the linking with the Aadhaar cards. He also held discussions with the officials of the state government regarding the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

Stating that the Union government had announced the Minimum Support Price of Rs 1,590 per quintal for Grade ‘A’ paddy and Rs 1,550 per quintal for common paddy in the Kharif Marketing season of 2017-18, he stated the state government is also paying Rs 70 per quintal for Grade ‘A’ and Rs 50 per quintal for common Paddy as bonus in the Kharif Marketing season of 2017-18 to farmers.

While procurement of Paddy in the state started from October last year, he said it will continue till June 18. During the Kharif Marketing season 2017-18, he said that a total of 10.41 lakh MTs of paddy was purchased from 2,88,116 farmers (as on 3.05.2018).

“The total annual requirement in Tamil Nadu under PDS is 2 LMTs of wheat and 36.83 LMTs of rice under the NFSA. Food grains are made available to the state government to distribute it to the beneficiaries at a reduced rate post implementation of NFSA under which wheat and rice are now made available at the rate of Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg respectively. However, the state government is providing these food grains for free to the needy,” he stated.

The Minister also stressed on the need to bring an Ordinance for the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, if necessary. “The Supreme Court order has diluted key provisions of the Act and that is not right. The attorney general has argued the government’s case and we hope the Supreme Court will reconsider its stand, if not, we will bring in an ordinance,” he stated.

On the need to reconsider reservations in promotion, he said, “In the 2006 M Nagaraj judgment, the Apex Court had held that if the state wishes to make it mandatory to make reservations for SC/ST in the matter of promotions, it would need to gather quantifiable data showing the backwardness of the class and inadequacy of representation of that class in public employment – none of which qualifies for an SC. We are therefore demanding for the withdrawal of the conditions, which if not ensured, we will bring an ordinance.”