3.4 cr ration cards with Akhilesh's photo scrapped

Be it ‘anti-Romeo’ squads or the crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and meat shops, the new BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh has been making headlines ever since it was voted to power with a brute majority.

After banning strikes in government offices, the Chief Minster has now cancelled around 3.4 crore ration cards that bore the photograph of former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav along with a personal message inside.

While the 2.8 crore ration cards that had already been distributed have been recalled, the state government has ordered a halt on the distribution of the remaining 60 lakh ration cards.

In a fresh move, the government will now roll out new smart cards for availing ration. Made of plastic, these new ration cards will be very similar to the driving license and the Aadhaar card.

The Yogi Adityanath government is also looking to target government schemes which carry the tag of ‘Samajwadi’ and rename them. There are at least 18 such schemes that were launched by the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government.

Having stormed to power after a contest that saw the Bharatiya Janata Party decimate the opponents including the SP, it comes as no surprise if the government also looks to rechristen schemes of the erstwhile government.

There are at least 18 schemes that begin with the ‘Samajwadi’ tag. Samajwadi Awas Yojana, Samajwadi Pension scheme, Samajwadi Smartphone Yojana, Samajwadi Party Namak Vitran Yojana, Samajwadi Shravan Yatra and Samajwadi Yuva Swarozgar Yojana are few on the list.

Also, the photo of former CM Akhilesh Yadav printed on the front page of ration cards will be removed.

In 2012, when the SP was voted to power, replacing the BSP government headed by Mayawati, it had changed the names of schemes that were started by the Dalit leader in the names of several personalities.

Even the BJP-led NDA had renamed several schemes in the names of the Gandhi family after it came to power at the Centre in 2014.

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