Beneficiaries in Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli are being urged to adapt to a new digital system for ration distribution, entailing mobile app installation and biometric eKYC verification linked to India’s digital rupee.
People receiving subsidised grain in Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli are being told to prepare for a digital shift in how their benefit is delivered. According to ABP Live, the subsidy will now be routed through a mobile wallet linked to the Reserve Bank of India’s digital rupee, which means beneficiaries need the right app on their phones and a completed eKYC to avoid disruption in getting their ration.
The system centres on the Mera Ration app, which the National Informatics Centre says helps ration card holders collect their entitlement from fair price shops across the country after biometric or Aadhaar verification on an electronic point-of-sale device. The app is available on Google Play and has more than 10 million downloads, suggesting it is already in wide use among beneficiaries.
For eKYC, the NIC’s Mera eKYC app is designed to handle Aadhaar-based face authentication. Users first enter their Aadhaar number to receive an OTP, then complete the process through facial verification. Online guides also point to the Aadhaar Face RD app as part of the set-up, although that route is not yet available everywhere.
Where the online option does not work, the fallback remains familiar: a visit to the nearest fair price shop for biometric eKYC. That matters because, under the new arrangement described by ABP Live, anyone who has not installed the required app or completed verification could face trouble accessing subsidised grain.
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