Ration Card in Chhattisgarh

What is a ration card in Chhattisgarh and who issues it?

A ration card in Chhattisgarh is issued by the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, under two state instruments named on the form itself: the Chhattisgarh Food Security Act, 2012 and the Chhattisgarh Public Distribution System (Control) Order, 2004. The process of adding members, transferring a member from one card to another and issuing fresh cards is governed by the Chhattisgarh Ration Card Rules, 2016, which the department publishes at fcs.cg.gov.in.

Chhattisgarh is unusual among Indian states in having its own food security law that predates the central National Food Security Act, 2013, and the categories on a Chhattisgarh ration card follow the state Act's sections rather than only the central scheme's vocabulary. The department's online systems sit at fcs.cg.gov.in (the old khadya.cg.nic.in address now redirects there), which carries the ration card management system, the RC module for Aadhaar-based card search, the downloadable application format and the district-wise category reports.

What are the ration card categories in Chhattisgarh?

The application form asks the applicant to state which scheme the family's existing renewed card belongs to, naming four by name; Antyodaya Anna Yojana, Annapurna Yojana, Mukhyamantri Khadyann Sahayata Yojana and the APL scheme, and to say what colour that card is. It then asks the applicant to tick a category under one of three heads:

BPL in Chhattisgarh is a ration card category, not a separate certificate. A family that wants to change category surrenders its existing card and asks for a card of the new scheme, which is why the form instructs the applicant to bring the existing card along when submitting the application.

Who is eligible for a ration card in Chhattisgarh?

Section 15(2); Antyodaya Anna Yojana and special weaker group families:

1. Families of the Baiga, Pahadi Korwa, Birhor, Kamar or Abujhmadia tribes.
2. Families whose head is a widow, a deserted woman or a single woman.
3. Families whose head suffers from cancer, AIDS, leprosy, sickle cell anaemia or TB.
4. Families whose head or spouse is a person with disability, with the percentage of disability stated and the certificate attached.
5. Families whose head is aged 60 years or above with no assured livelihood or social support, quoting the destitute pension beneficiary number.
6. Families whose head is a freed bonded labourer, with certificate attached.
7. Houseless families, quoting the serial number on the Indira Awas Yojana list or the urban body's list.

Section 15(3), priority households:

8. Landless agricultural labour families.
9. Marginal or small farmer families, meaning landholding families with up to 5 acres.
10. Workers registered under the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, 2008, with the registration number and certificate.
11. Workers registered under the Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, with the registration number and certificate.

Head of household rule. The form's first field is the name of the eldest woman member or woman head of the family, and its footnote directs that the male head's name be entered only where the family has no woman aged 18 years or above.

Who cannot get a subsidised card. Clause 8 of the declaration is a single sworn sentence covering four exclusions. The applicant declares that neither they nor any other member of the family:

• is an income tax payer;
• is a permanent or contractual employee of any central or state government department, public undertaking, corporation, board, autonomous institution or local body, with daily-wage, honorarium-based and class IV staff excluded from this bar;
• holds, in a non-scheduled area, more than 4 hectares (10 acres) of irrigated land or more than 8 hectares (20 acres) of unirrigated land;
• owns a pucca house built on more than 1,000 square feet in an urban area.

The applicant also declares that the family does not fall in the excluded category of families framed by the state government under section 15(4) of the Chhattisgarh Food Security Act. A family caught by any of these can still hold a general (APL) card, but not an Antyodaya or priority one.

What documents are required in Chhattisgarh?

The Chhattisgarh form is unusual in that most supporting proofs are printed annexures on the form itself, each signed by a named official rather than obtained separately:

Alongside these, the family details table requires each member's name, age, sex and relationship to the head, the voter identity card number for adult members, and the Aadhaar number where available. Certificates of disability and of labour registration are attached separately where those categories are claimed.

Note what the form does not demand: it does not require an income certificate from the tehsildar, and it does not require Aadhaar for every member as a precondition. The Chhattisgarh design rests on official certification at the village level rather than on a stack of citizen-procured certificates.

How to apply for a ration card in Chhattisgarh

1. Download the application-cum-declaration form free from fcs.cg.gov.in, the department publishes "सामान्य (APL) राशनकार्ड हेतु आवेदन सह घोषणा पत्र" and the ration card application format as PDFs: or collect it from the gram panchayat or urban body office.
2. Enter the eldest woman member as head of the family, with her father's or husband's name, caste category and current address. Leave the village or ward code, gram panchayat or urban body code and fair price shop code blank — the form states these are filled by the ration card team, not the applicant.
3. List every family member in the table with age, sex, relationship to the head, voter ID number for adults and Aadhaar number where available.
4. State your existing card, its scheme and its colour, or declare that no ration card has been issued in the name of any member of your family.
5. Tick the one category you claim from the section 15(2), section 15(3) or general lists, and get the corresponding annexure signed, Patwari for land, Panchayat Secretary for destitution, single woman status or houselessness, and the health worker for illness.
6. Sign clause 8 and clause 10, the exclusion declaration and the declaration that no member holds a separate ration card and that no member's name is entered on a ration card in any other district of Chhattisgarh. An illiterate applicant's left thumb impression is taken before a witness, whose signature, name and address are recorded.
7. Submit the form to the ration card issuing authority of your village or ward through the gram panchayat or urban body, and collect the acknowledgement (पावती) printed at the foot of the form, which states the date of receipt, the category found eligible and the date of the camp at which the card is to be collected.
8. Attend the distribution camp on the date written on the acknowledgement, carrying that acknowledgement, to receive the card.

The decision itself is recorded on the same sheet by the ration card team, the section marked "राशनकार्ड दल के उपयोग हेतु" is signed by a team leader or nodal officer and up to seven team members, stating whether the applicant was found eligible as an Antyodaya, priority or general family, or the ground on which they were found ineligible.

What does a ration card cost in Chhattisgarh?

The department does not publish any fee for the application-cum-declaration form or for issuing the card. The form is a free download from fcs.cg.gov.in and is supplied free at the gram panchayat and urban body office, the Patwari does not charge for the land ownership annexure, and the Panchayat Secretary and health worker do not charge for their certificates. Pay nothing to a middleman for the form, for a signature on an annexure, or for placement in the Antyodaya or priority category. The category is decided by the ration card team against the statutory criteria in sections 15(2) and 15(3) of the Chhattisgarh Food Security Act, 2012 to nobody can sell a place on that list.

The form also carries a warning worth taking seriously: giving wrong information for a ration card is punishable under section 9 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 with imprisonment of not less than 3 months and up to 5 years, or fine, or both. Do not let an agent tick a category you do not qualify for.

How do I check my Chhattisgarh ration card?

• fcs.cg.gov.in RC module, search ration card details by Aadhaar number through the department's RC module Aadhaar search page.
• District-wise category details and PoS details, published on the department site, useful to confirm your family's recorded category.
• Form status page on the department portal for applications in process.
• Acknowledgement slip. The receipt at the foot of the application form carries the gram panchayat code and the serial number of the application in the register, and is the reference the office will ask for.

Common reasons a Chhattisgarh application fails

• A male head named where an adult woman exists in the family, contrary to the form's rule.
• The existing card not surrendered when a category change is sought.
• A member's name already on a ration card in another district of Chhattisgarh, which clause 10 requires the applicant to declare against.
• An annexure left unsigned; most often the Patwari's land certificate for a small-farmer claim.
• Land above the limit: more than 10 acres irrigated or 20 acres unirrigated in a non-scheduled area.
• A regular government employee in the family, other than daily-wage, honorarium and class IV staff.
• A pucca house above 1,000 square feet in an urban area.
• Voter ID numbers missing for adult members.

Where to complain in Chhattisgarh

• Ration card issuing authority at the gram panchayat or urban body, and the nodal officer who signed the acknowledgement.
• Food Officer or Food Inspector of the tehsil, and the District Food Officer, whose modules are run on the department's PDS online system.
• Chhattisgarh State Food Commission, linked from fcs.cg.gov.in, for entitlement grievances under the food security law.
• The department's online complaint system, which fcs.cg.gov.in lists among its citizen modules alongside the ration card and kerosene distribution systems.
• 1967 and 14445, the national PDS and One Nation One Ration Card toll-free numbers, for distribution and portability problems at the fair price shop.