Jharkhand Government Declares Over 50,000 Ration Cards Invalid in East Singhbhum

Jamshedpur: The Jharkhand state government has declared over 50,000 ration cards invalid in East Singhbhum district. This is part of a broader drive to remove so-called “silent” ration cards—those that haven not been used for over six months—from the Public Distribution System (PDS).

According to official sources, a total of 164,237 inactive cardholders were initially identified in the district. After verification, the names of 50,323 individuals were struck off the list. Among those flagged, 576 cardholders were later found to be eligible for continued benefits, while 113,338 other cases remain under active review.

Authorities have also removed 20,067 individuals from the system due to suspicious Aadhaar numbers. These names were spread across both rural and urban areas. As part of the scrutiny, over 2,274 single-member cards were cancelled as they were held by individuals either under 18 years old or over 100, casting doubts on the authenticity of the claims. Another 13,332 such cases are still being investigated.

The clean-up effort has seen the largest number of deletions in Jamshedpur city, where 68,565 ration cards were cancelled, followed by the Jamshedpur-cum-Golmuri region, both of which reported high numbers of inactive beneficiaries.

Earlier this year, East Singhbhum had already identified around 12,000 inactive ration cards for cancellation, with authorities offering affected individuals the chance to respond or appeal. Across the state, similar clean-up operations have been underway. In one such move, the government had cancelled over 6,000 ineligible ration cards in just a month.

The district administration has reiterated that any genuinely eligible beneficiaries who were mistakenly removed during the verification process will have an opportunity to reapply or contest the decision. Notices have also been served to ration shop owners found complicit in irregularities.