What is the government’s new plan on ration?
The central government is going to make a big change in the ration system provided to the poorest families of the country. Till now, the distribution of ration under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) was on ‘per family’ basis, but the government is preparing to change it to ‘per person’ basis. According to the new proposal, every member of the Antyodaya family will get 7 kg of grains every month, although the maximum limit of total ration for any family will be 35 kg per month. The government claims that this will eliminate the inequality in ration distribution and food grains will reach the needy people in a more equitable manner.
India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) is one of the largest food security schemes in the world. Under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), ration is provided free or at very cheap rates to about 80 crore people of the country. There are two major categories in these – Priority Families (PHH) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). People in the PHH category get 5 kg of grains per person, whereas till now under AAY, every family has been given 35 kg of grains. About 2.5 crore families in the country come under the purview of Antyodaya Yojana, which the government considers the poorest and most needy class.
After all, why did the government need change?
According to the government, there is a big discrepancy in the current system. At present, even if a family has only two members, it gets 35 kg ration. That means about 17.5 kg of grains per person. On the other hand, if a family has six members, it also gets only 35 kg, i.e. about 5.8 kg of grains per person. This means that within the same scheme, small families were getting much more ration than they needed and big families were getting relatively less ration. The government says that this was leading to “intra-category inequity”, i.e. inequality between beneficiaries of the same category. The aim of the new proposal is to eliminate this inequality.
What will be the benefit to the common man?
The biggest argument of the government is that this will make ration distribution more equitable. Families with four or five members will now get a clearly fixed quantity per person. This will also increase transparency regarding ration distribution.
The government hopes that this will reduce the extra food grains supplied to small families, which will also prevent black marketing and wastage of grains. The government will be able to use the remaining food grains for other needy beneficiaries or in food security programs. Apart from this, distribution on per capita basis will also make it easier to make data based policies in future.
Will all families benefit?
There are two aspects to this. Firstly, this change can prove to be harmful for small families because they will get less ration than before. For example, a family of three members used to get 35 kg earlier, but now it will get only 21 kg. On the other hand, families of five members will not suffer any loss as they will continue to get 35 kg as before. However, families with six, seven or more members will also get a maximum of 35 kg. In such a situation, the problem of large families will not be completely solved because the distribution of 35 kg among 6 or 7 members will still be a little more than 5 kg per person.
How much can the government save?
The government spends more than Rs 2 lakh crore every year on food subsidy. Apart from this, crores of tonnes of wheat and rice are procured, stored and distributed through the Food Corporation of India (FCI). If small families now get less ration than before, then the pressure on the government’s food grains stock will reduce and subsidy expenditure may also reduce. However, the government has not yet released any official savings figures.
The important thing is that this change has come forward only in the form of proposal. The Department of Food and Public Distribution has released the draft of the National Food Security (Amendment) Bill 2026 and has sought suggestions from states, experts and the general public. The government will take the final decision based on the responses received till July 13, 2026 and only then it will be presented in Parliament.
Government can issue 3 crore more ration cards
Before the draft rule of providing 7 kg ration per person, a statement had also come from the government regarding the number and distribution of ration cards. Union Food Minister Prahlad Joshi had said that after the names of lakhs of ineligible beneficiaries were removed from the Public Distribution System (PDS), now ration cards can be issued to about 3 crore new eligible people. He had said that the Central Government is continuously working to make the Public Distribution System (PDS) more transparent and effective. In this series, a big decision has come out regarding ration card holders. Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi has said that after the removal of names of fake and ineligible beneficiaries, there is a possibility of issuing about 3 crore new ration cards in the country. Overall, this step of the government is being considered as a big change in the direction of making ration distribution from ‘family based’ to ‘individual based’. Now it will be interesting to see in what form this proposal becomes part of the law after the suggestions received from the public and the states.
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