Meghalaya Ration Card

Ration card is an important multi-purposes legal document issued by Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department of Government of Meghalaya to the citizen of Meghalaya. One of the important benefits of ration card is that it enables the holder to procure all subsidised items provided by the Meghalaya Government. The Government provides essential commodities for daily needs at highly subsidized prices to ration cardholders. In this article, we look at the procedure for obtaining a Meghalaya ration card in detail.

Benefits of Obtaining Ration Card

The benefits of obtaining a Meghalaya ration card are as follows:

Identity Proof

As discussed above, the ration card serves as an essential identity proof. The Meghalaya ration card number can be linked to the Aadhaar card, which in turn can be linked to the bank account. Thus ration card is serving as a multi-purpose legal document that facilitates many essential tasks.

Government Subsidies

The Government of Meghalaya provides a subsidy for essential food items and commodities for ration cardholders. The essential food items, commodities and goods that the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department supply to the ration card holders are given here.

Foodgrains

Rice
Wheat
Sugar

Petroleum Products

Kerosene
LPG

Address Proof

The ration card serves as the legal address proof document required by the Government of Meghalaya. This legal document also serves as an authenticated identity proof for the entire family since it comprises of detail all family members’ details.

Ration card is an essential proof for buying a property/land in Meghalaya
Ration card has to be submitted as address proof for applying for loans in the bank.
Ration card is also required for applying Passport and PAN.

National Food Security Act 2013

This Act provides subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of the State population. All domicile of the Meghalaya who are duly recognized and recommended by the Local headmen/Durbar are eligible to obtain rations under the National Food Security Act, (NFSA), 2013. The eligible families are identified on the below-mentioned basis:

For Urban areas - As per the Report of the Hashim Committee submitted to the Planning Commission
For Rural areas - As per the Socio-Economic and Caste Census Booklet issued by the Ministry of Rural Development

Under the National Food Security Act 2013, Priority Households and AAY families will be identified and provided with PHH Ration Card and AAY Ration Card. Note: The eldest woman of 18 years of age or more will be head of the household for the issue of NFSC ration card, and if is not available, the eldest male member can be the head of the household.

Priority Households – PHH Ration Card

Selection of PHH families is on the basis of the following criteria’s.

If the number of dwelling rooms in possession of household is less than 4, then that household will be provided with PHH Ration Card.
Families who not possess four-wheeler motorized vehicle, A.C. set or Computer or laptop will
If a family has less than 2.5 acres of irrigated land and having no irrigation equipment are eligible for PHH.

AAY Families - AAY Card

Families covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana are provided with AAY Card. The commodities provided for AAY families are below. Know more about Antyodaya Anna Yojana

Non-NFSA Ration Card

All those who fall outside the NFS Act will be covered under the Non-NFSA category. The food grain allocation under Non-NFSA is taken from the Tide over-allotment received from the Government of India.

Annapurna Ration Card

Under this Annapurna Scheme, the commodity will be distributed free of cost to each indigent Old Age Person who not covered under the National Old Age Pension Scheme. Indigent Old Age Person above 65 years of age and not covered under the National Old Age Pension Scheme is eligible for obtaining Annapurna card.

Subsidized Rate of Commodities

Below mentioned Commodities are provided to Meghalaya citizen who holds valid ration card.

Commodity	Scales of Supply per Family per Month	Retail Prices
Rice for PHH Families	5 Kgs per head	Rs. 3 per Kg
Rice for AAY Families	35 Kgs per household	Rs. 3 per Kg
Rice for Non-NFSA Families	8 Kgs (Approximately) per household	Rs. 10-Rs.12 per Kg
Rice for Annapurna Families	10 Kgs per head	Free of cost
Non-NFSA Wheat (East Khasi Hills and RiBhoi District only )	1Kg - 5Kgs per household	Rs. 7-Rs.8 per Kg
Superior Kerosene Oil For all Category	9 litres per household in urban areas 4.5 litres per household in rural areas.	Rs. 24- Rs. 29 per litre
Sugar For all category	3 Kg per month	-

Applying for Ration Card under NFSA

The step-by-step procedure for applying for a new ration card for inclusion under the National Food Security Act 2013 is below.

Submit Claims and Objections Form

Step 1: To get a new Meghalaya Ration Card under NFSC, fill an application form in a prescribed format. Step 2: Separate Claims and Objections Form for Rural and Urban areas is available. Fill the appropriate application form duly according to the respective area. Provide the following details in the application form.

Name and Address
Details of family
Gas connection details
Income details
Bank account information

Claims and Objections Form for Rural Area is below for the reference: Claims and Objections Form for Urban Area is below for the reference:

Approach Local Supply Office

Step 3: After providing all details in the application form, submit the application along with all supporting documents to the Clerk at Local Supply Office (DSO).

Get an Acknowledgement Slip

Step 4: After verifying application form and all other relevant documents, the Clerk will provide an acknowledgement slip. Keep the receipt safe for future reference.

Supply Officer Verification

Step 5: Clerk will forward the application and documents to the Supply Officer of that area. Step 6: After verifying the documents, Supply officer will visit the home to verify the exclusion parameters of NFSA. Step 7: Based on the National Food Security Act 2013 Exclusion parameters and physical inspection of the Supply Officer, the applicant will be informed if specified under the National Food Security Act 2013 or not.

Issue of Ration Card

Step 8: If the applicant is under NFSA, the appropriate ration card will be issued. Step 9: Supply office clerks will compute your family units, affix the photo of the head of the family and enter the ration card entries in the master register.

Get New Ration Card

Step 10: Submit the acknowledgement receipt to the clerk and get new Meghalaya Ration Card.

Procedure for Availing Non-NFSA Ration Card

Any citizen seeks to be under Non-NFSA have to fill up an application form in the prescribed format. Submit the application form along with declaration form to the respective DC/SDO Supply Office. After verification, the Supply officer will issue Non-NFSA Ration card.