Amid a surge in the number of Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) card holders in Haryana over the past three years, 6.84 lakh families have come under the scanner of the government for allegedly providing false income details in the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) to illegally obtain benefits meant for the poor.
The PPP, introduced in 2019, is a unique family ID system designed to facilitate “paperless” and “faceless” delivery of government schemes, services, and benefits.
The government identified these families using a special software, inputs from the Crime Investigation Department, and data from fair price shops, a source in the State government said. Sirsa and Hisar districts have the highest number of such families.
Earlier this month, the government had sent stern text messages to these families, warning them to voluntarily correct their income details in the PPP by April 20 or face consequences. “Wrong income details or artificial division of family in Parivar Pehchan Patra has come to the notice of the State government during the Assembly session. Please enter the correct information by April 20, otherwise legal action can be initiated, including recovery of improper benefits. The PPP is the basis of trust, keep it strong with honesty: Haryana Parivar Pehchan Patra Authority,” read the message sent on April 3.
‘Another chance’
According to Satish Khola, State coordinator of the Haryana PPP Authority, the government is giving families that provided incorrect income details or created multiple family IDs at the same address, either on purpose or by mistake, a chance to rectify their information in the PPP to avoid legal action.
“Chief Minister Nayab Saini aims to make PPP an impeccable and accurate document with the support of citizens and this is a step to achieve it amicably. These people have the opportunity to correct their income details and merge the multiple family IDs. They can easily do it by logging into the authority’s website, else the government will take appropriate action,” said Mr. Khola.
Haryana has 76,81,652 PPPs covering 2,93,12,014 members, as of April this year, while 51,96,380 families hold BPL and AAY ration cards. This suggests that 67.64% of households in the State live below the poverty line, contradicting Haryana’s status as one of India’s most prosperous States with a per capita income of ₹3,25,759.
Congress’s Rohtak MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra had raised this issue in the Assembly during the Budget Session. Speaking to The Hindu, he accused the BJP government of issuing a large number of BPL and AAY ration cards without proper verification in the run-up to the Assembly poll last year for political gain. He claimed that the government relied on self-verification of income by PPP holders to issue ration cards, bypassing the mandatory physical verification stated in the PPP Act.
As many as 37,62,893 BPL cards were issued between April 2022 and September 2024, increasing the number of beneficiary families from 8,82,417 to 46,45,310. During this period, 54,705 new AAY cards were also issued, taking the total number of beneficiaries to 2,92,845.
Possible reasons
Mr. Khola said the seemingly disproportionate number of BPL families could be partially attributed to the Haryana government increasing the maximum income limit for BPL families from ₹1.20 lakh to ₹1.80 lakh in December 2022, and the issuance of PPPs to migrant families under the ‘One nation one ration card’ scheme.
“After the introduction of PPP, we removed 9.6 lakh ineligible families from the PDS system, but added 16 lakh new BPL families with an increase in the income limit. Around 5 lakh migrant families were also issued PPPs,” he said.
Mr. Khola said the income details furnished in the PPPs were self-verified and cross-checked by local and sector committees, but “discrepancies cannot be completely ruled out”.
Published – April 12, 2025 01:46 am IST
