How to Link Your Ration Card with Aadhaar: Online and Offline Methods Explained

A Ration card is an official document issued by the respective state government to the citizens of India who are eligible for subsidized food, grain, and gasoline under the National Food Security Act (NSFA).

The ration cards under NSFA are issued in two categories:

• Priority Household (PHH) Ration Cards
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) Ration cards

A Ration card ensures food security by distributing essential commodities through fair-price shops under Public Distribution System (PDS) to eligible candidates residing anywhere in the country.

How to Link Ration Card with Aadhaar?

To maintain the efficiency and transparency of the system and prevent fraudulent activities along with availing some additional benefits, the government wants you to link your Aadhaar to a Ration card. Following are the ways to do it:

• Link ration card with Aadhaar card Online
• Link ration card with Aadhaar card Offline
• Link ration card with Aadhaar card through SMS

Let’s discuss each of these ways to learn the best-suited method

Steps to Link Ration Card with Aadhaar Online Process:

• Visit the official PDS website of your respective state.
• Enter your Ration card number.
• Enter your unique 12-digit Aadhaar number.
• Provide your registered mobile number.
• Click the continue/submit button to proceed to the next step.
• An OTP will be generated, and you will receive it on your registered mobile number.
• Provide the generated OTP to submit your request to link the Ration card with your Aadhaar.

Steps to Link Ration Card with Aadhaar Offline:

• Collect and prepare all the necessary documents, such as photocopies of Ration card and
• Aadhaar card of family members.
• Carry a passport-size photograph of the family head.
• If your bank account is not linked to your Aadhaar, carry a copy of your bank passbook.
• Visit your nearest Ration shop or PDS office and submit all these documents.
• The representative at the office might ask you for your fingerprint identification for first-time Aadhaar authentication.

Once the documents are submitted successfully, you will receive a notification through SMS or mail. After that, when the Aadhaar is successfully linked to the Ration card, you will be notified accordingly.

List of the Documents Necessary to Link a Ration Card with Aadhaar:

• Carry a photocopy of the original Ration card along with an original card for on-site verification.
• Carry photocopies of Aadhaar cards of all the family members.
• Carry a photocopy of the Aadhaar card of the head of the family.
• Carry passport-size photos of the head of the family.
• A copy of the bank passbook if the Aadhaar is not linked to your bank account.

Steps to Link Ration Card with Aadhaar through SMS:

How can you check whether your Ration card is linked to your Aadhaar card or not?

• To link your Ration card with your Aadhaar card through SMS, type in the text box 'UID SEED State Short Code> Scheme/Program Short Code> Scheme/Program ID> Aadhaar Number>', for example, 'UID SEED MH POSC 9876543 123478789012'.
• Send this text to 51969.
• Thereafter, you will receive notifications regarding the receipt of information, successful verification, and ultimately the status of the successful linking of the Ration card with Aadhaar.

How can you check whether your Ration card is linked to your Aadhaar card or not?

• Download the 'Mera ration' application from Playstore.
• Click on the 'Aadhaar Seeding' option.
• Select 'Ration card no.' and enter it in the box.
• Click Submit to proceed.

You will get the results showing complete details of your Ration card along with the Aadhaar seeding status of all members.

You can also check Aadhaar-Ration linking status by visiting the National Food Security Portal.

Why is it important to link Ration card with Aadhaar card?

• It eliminates ineligible cardholders and bogus users from misemploying government schemes designed for the betterment of poverty-stricken people.
• Linking Ration cards to Aadhaar cards helps to avoid the duplicity of ration cards so one household cannot obtain more than one card to avail of the subsidies.
• With the integration of biometric identification through linking Ration-Aadhaar, the PDS system can become more efficient, identify real beneficiaries, and improve the overall distribution process.
• It helps to strengthen the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme of the government, where one beneficiary of a state can avail of the subsidies from the PDS of other states under this scheme.
• Aadhaar-Ration card linking allows for establishing an audit trail within the system to find leaks and diversions, helping to detect and eliminate corrupt middlemen and prevent fraudulent activities to improve the overall system's efficiency.

Wrapping Up

As a preventative measure for duplicity and ineligible beneficiaries and a step towards curbing corruption, the government has made it mandatory to link a Ration card with Aadhaar to avail the benefits of obtaining subsidized items from Public Distribution shops (PDS) to avoid duplicity and maintain the efficiency of the system.

Recently, the deadline to do so has been extended to September 30th. So, visit your nearest PDS office or their official website today to get your Ration card linked to Aadhaar.