A guide to help you link your Aadhaar with your Ration Card

Due to COVID-19 induced lockdown and monetary crunch, many individuals are resorting to options that ease their financial burden. Ration cards are one such instrument being used by people to purchase food at a subsidised rate.

It’s an authorised document issued by the State Government of India. The whole objective is to help individuals buy food grains and other related items from the PDS system that is maintained under the National Food Security Act.

According to the aforementioned act, it is the responsibility of the state government to decide which all households are eligible for ration cards. Ration cards are issued only to a certain set of people on the basis of yearly income, the number of family members etc.

This document is of immense importance especially to the lower-income groups which is why the government has mandated to link ration card with Aadhaar. This decision was made in order to tackle the issuance of more than one ration to a particular individual. This linkage eliminates duplicate ration cards and counters other fraudulent activities.  

There are two ways you can link your Aadhaar card with your ration card: Online and Offline. You can choose either of these based on feasibility.

How to link Aadhaar with Ration Card

Offline Method

1. Carry two photocopies of your Aadhar card of all your family member along with your ration card
2. Carry the photocopy of your bank passbook if you haven’t linked your Aadhaar card to your bank account
3. Also, carry a passport-sized photograph of the head of the family
4. Now submit all these documents at the Ration Office and you will receive an SMS or email once the application and documents have reached the official department
5. After the application process completed and your documents verified, your Aadhaar will link to your ration card

Online Method

• Visit the official Aadhaar linking website and click on Start Now
• Here enter all the required details like address along with district and state
• Now select the benefit type as Ration Card from the menu. Then select the scheme name as Ration Card
• Next, add your ration card number, your Aadhaar number registered mobile number and email address
• Enter the OTP you receive on your registered mobile number
• Once done, you will receive a notification stating that your application process is completed
• After the application process completed, your Aadhaar will link to your ration card