Home » Current Affairs PCS » Pb. Current Affairs

Pb. Current Affairs

8th January 2022

Dr. Navjot Dahia today in the presence of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, newly formed Punjab State Commission for General Category.
At this point Chief Minister Channi said that the commission would help in protecting the interests of non-reserved sections as well as effective implementation of various welfare schemes for the benefit of the poor of the non-reserved categories.

Dr. Navjot Dhaiya today assumed the charge as Chairperson of the newly constituted Punjab State Commission for General Category (PSCGC) in the presence of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

This Commission will safeguard the interests of the unreserved classes besides effective implementation of various welfare schemes.

(Source: Punjab Government)

Bringing a major reform in the Smart Ration Card Scheme, a new system of wheat distribution has been introduced from 1st December, 2021. Beneficiaries will now get wheat after every three months, which will save them from storing large quantity of wheat and also maintain its quality.

Smart Ration Card Scheme under NFSA is a new program of the Punjab government that had been implemented on 12 September 2020 by CM.
The state government of Punjab had already given its approval for replacement of blue cards under the Atta-Dal scheme with new smart ration cards.
As per the orders of State government, the Atta Dal Scheme has been renamed as Smart Ration Card Scheme. This new scheme will cover 1.41 crore beneficiaries as per the new list.
CM also announces a new state-funded scheme to provide subsidized rations to recipients of 9 lakh not covered by the NFSA.
Smart Ration Card will be used for withdrawing the food grains from the Fair Price Shops (FPS) through e-PoS machines without carrying any additional document. The details of the family can be fetched at Fair Price Shops just by swiping the smart ration card at the ePoS machines.
The biometric authentication after the card swipe will be required for food grain withdrawal.

One of the major benefits of the smart ration cards will be that these card would be intra-state portable, meaning the smart ration card holder would be able to withdraw food grains anywhere in the state irrespective of their permanent resident district.
Deputy Commissioners of all the districts in the state would be responsible for the re-verification of the beneficiaries. Punjab govt. has initiated process of making smart ration cards with chip to distribute subsidized ration to BPL families.