Raipur . During the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Brijmohan Agrawal, senior Member of Parliament from Raipur Lok Sabha constituency, raised an important issue in the Lok Sabha regarding the ration entitlement of migrant labourers, tribal families and poor beneficiaries of the country and Chhattisgarh in particular. Mr. Agrawal drew the government's attention to biometric failures in electronic point of sale (e-POS) machines, server delays, and the need for alternative means such as IRIS scanners and offline smart-tokens. He sought answers to the practical problems faced during ration card portability, especially in remote tribal areas of Chhattisgarh.

Central Government's clarification and instructions given Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya informed that, the government clarified that apart from fingerprint, several options like multi-finger, IRIS (iris) and Aadhaar OTP have been made available under the Public Distribution System (PDS). If the biometric of any one member of the family does not match, any other eligible member linked to the card can authenticate and get the ration. Apart from this, the facility of 'nominee' has also been provided for special circumstances. Along with this, to overcome the problem of internet connectivity, e-POS machines have also been made functional in offline mode, so that distribution does not stop even in the absence of network.

The central government has issued clear instructions to all states and union territories, including Chhattisgarh, that no genuine poor or tribal beneficiary will be deprived of their quota of food grains due to network issues or weak biometrics. MP Brijmohan Agrawal said, "In remote areas of Chhattisgarh, such as Bastar and Surguja, our tribal brothers and sisters and migrant workers who go out to work faced difficulties in receiving rations due to biometrics not matching or network server downtime. Keeping this public concern in mind, we raised this issue in Parliament. The central government's response that rations cannot be withheld due to technical reasons is extremely reassuring. We will ensure that these rules are strictly followed at the ground level, and that every eligible poor and worker in Chhattisgarh receives their full ration easily."