Kerala sees huge rush to switch to Pink ration cards; 20,766 applications in 16 days

Kottayam: There has been a surge in applications to switch to priority ration cards. In just 16 days, 20,766 people have applied. The deadline is June 30. If found eligible during verification, applicants will get pink cards.

Food Minister GR Anil said a detailed scrutiny will be done once applications are received. The government expects up to 50,000 applications. The process will be completed by August 31. Most applicants currently hold blue or white cards, which are for non-priority groups, and are seeking to shift to pink cards meant for economically and socially weaker sections.

Currently, under the PHH (Priority Households) category, there are 3.62 lakh pink cards covering 1.26 crore people.

Meanwhile, 2.08 lakh people who had moved to better financial conditions have returned their pink cards, and 3,168 people have returned their yellow cards to the Food Department. Since these returned cards still carry entitlement to ration shares, allocating them to new eligible beneficiaries will not cause any disruption. However, if the vacancies are not filled, the central quota could be reduced.

Many vulnerable families had been mistakenly placed in non-priority categories due to various errors. Ministers have received complaints about this during Adalats (public grievance hearings) held in different districts. In rare cases where poverty was evident, special orders from the minister allowed such families to be moved to the pink card category. A general opportunity was opened up to bring all deserving families under the priority list.