Linking of Aadhaar numbers to various beneficiaries, and digitisation of ration cards has helped the Centre remove more than 2.75 crore duplicate and bogus ration cards, according to a report by The Times of India.

According to the report, the duplicate and bogus ration cards were being used to get subsidised food grains.

The process of complete digitisation of ration cards had been started in January 2013. However, it happened rapidly in the last four years, the report says citing food ministry officials.

Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told the newspaper, “We have plugged the leakage of subsidised wheat, rice and coarse grains to the tune of Rs 17,500 crore annually. Though there is no direct savings because new beneficiaries also get added, now we are providing the food grains to the real beneficiaries.”

“More bogus ration cards will be out of the system once we have 100 percent Aadhaar seeding,” Paswan said. The process of linking Aadhaar numbers with ration cards is 82 percent complete.

Government data shows that around 23.19 crore ration cards have been issued to people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), all of which have been digitised.

Food Ministry data shows almost 50 percent of such deleted bogus or duplicate ration cards across the country came from two states — Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

A large number of such ration cards were also weeded out in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, the report added.

The NFSA targets food security to more than 80 crore eligible beneficiaries, making it one of the world’s largest welfare schemes.