The Odisha government on Tuesday (October 14, 2025) said subsidised rice supply to beneficiaries, who have failed to get their electronic Know your customer (eKYC) verified, would be stopped under the National Food Security Act and State Food Security Act from next month.
“All deadlines for eKYC verification have already expired over the past eight months. If the Government of India extends the deadline, the state government may consider reopening the eKYC verification process,” said Krushna Chandra Patra, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Department.
Mr. Patra said, “in exceptional cases, beneficiaries who were unable to complete their eKYC verification due to specific circumstances may be given another opportunity, based on written representations. Such cases will be examined on a case-to-case basis.”
He, however, said the subsidized rice would be stopped to beneficiaries whose eKYC was not verified. According to sources, about 15.66 lakh beneficiaries have not got their eKYC verified.
According to State government, 12,36,302 Antyodaya families comprising 35,12,907 members, and 85,03,812 priority households comprising 2,90,75,972 members, are provided free food grains in Odisha. A total 97,40,114 families with 3,25,88,879 members receive free food grains under the scheme. In addition, under the State Food Security Scheme 1,07,291 families comprising 1,80,086 members get free food grains.
Till September 18, 2025, field verification of 5,09,606 applications across the State were underway. Mr. Patra applicants found eligible after verification were included under the food security scheme. Government sources said eKYC of 95% of beneficiaries had been verified.
“To identify and exclude ineligible beneficiaries, the government matched ration card data with information from other departmental databases in accordance with the 10 exclusion criteria notified under the Odisha State Food Security (Targeted Public Distribution System) Rules, 2020,” he pointed out.
“During e-KYC verification, any deceased persons detected were immediately deleted from the ration card database. Till last month, 30,125 ineligible ration cardholders, covering 1,09,853 members, and 6,38,996 deceased persons were identified and deleted from the database,” said the minister. In their place, new eligible applicants and members were included.
Right to Food campaigners have questioned the government’s sincerity in ensuring that needy families remain covered under the subsidised food scheme.
“It is the government’s responsibility to identify beneficiaries whose eKYC has not been verified. Instead, the government has completely shifted this responsibility onto the beneficiaries,” said Samit Panda, a prominent activist of the Right to Food campaign.
“There is no way for beneficiaries to know whether their eKYC has been verified. It should have been the other way round — the government should have ensured that all beneficiaries completed the verification process.”
Mr. Panda added that the grievance redressal mechanism under the food security scheme is weak, leaving beneficiaries without any means to confirm whether their eKYC verification was successful.
Published – October 15, 2025 05:56 am IST
