Over 44,000 ration card holders in Kerala face delisting from priority category following Centre’s unclaimed ration directive

The Centre’s guidelines seek to weed out households that have not used their ration entitlement for six consecutive months. (file image) | Photo credit: C. SURESHKUMAR

As many as 44,279 families in Kerala will lose their entitlement to free ration benefits in the priority category following the Centre’s directive to remove households that have not availed their ration entitlement for six consecutive months.

The directive issued based on monitoring of the state’s Public Distribution System (PDS) will affect 5,370 Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cardholders (6,401 beneficiaries) and 38,909 Priority Household (PHH) cardholders (60,300 beneficiaries).

Official PDS data shows that households, which make up 66,701 beneficiaries, have not claimed their ration entitlement even once in the last six months.

Among households not covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013, 5,62,494 ration card holders (15,40,529 beneficiaries) did not use their ration during the same period. These include 4,33,811 NPNS (Non-Priority Non-Subsidized), 1,19,166 NPS (Non-Priority Subsidized) and 9,517 NPI (Non-Priority Institution) ration card holders.

The central government’s order comes in the wake of concerns over alleged diversion of rationed commodities to the black market. Under the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme, the public distribution system has been under close scrutiny for the past two years, sources said.

According to official sources, recent raids have found that ration quotas allotted to households that do not collect their entitlement regularly are being illegally diverted and sold in several parts of the state. The extent of the alleged diversion came to light during enforcement operations in this year’s Onam season, when Food and Civil Supplies officials seized around 75,000 kg of rationed rice from Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts alone.

Two days ago, over 6,000 kg of rice and wheat, believed to have been diverted from grocery stores in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, were seized from a house in Parassala.

The operation revealed a suspected inter-state racket active in procuring rice distributed free through the public distribution system in Tamil Nadu, transporting it to Kerala and selling it commercially.

Intelligence inputs indicated that the diverted rice is being moved to private warehouses along state borders before being polished, packaged under branded labels and sold in the open market at prices ranging from ₹48 to ₹56 per kg.

Opportunity for other eligible applicants

Official sources point out that the delisting of ration card holders in priority categories would create an opportunity for other eligible applicants who are waiting to be included in the priority list.

However, families excluded from the list will not be permanently prevented from accessing priority benefits. Those seeking re-inclusion will have to submit fresh applications through Akshaya centres.

Published – 15 Sep 2026 12:18 IST