Ration Card in India is one of the most important and essential document. It is one of the cards that every house is supposed to have. Ration Cards offers great advantages when it comes to buy food grains and other items at subsidies specified by state government. Apart from this Ration Card can also be used in many other cases. For more info you can check this link: Ration Card Uses
Most of the state governments have imported essential Ration Card related services onto online platforms. You can check and apply for online ration card in most of the Indian states now (you can at least get complete in/out of the process that is required to create this card). Once you have the details, it becomes easy to apply for ration card as you already know all the important aspects that you need to take care while applying for new/modified ration card in your state.
Ration Cards are of many types and are issued on basis of poverty index. Some common types are:
Above Poverty Line (APL): As the name says, you will get APL Ration Card if your family’s annual income lies below poverty index specified for that year.
BPL (Below Poverty Line): On the same line, BPL cards are issued to persons with income below poverty line index.
AAY Cards: These are issued to BPL card holders who meet certain criteria. You can find complete details about advantages that are provided to different-different card holders in above reference link.
In general case, AAY Cards are provided with maximum number of advantages in terms of discounts/facilities and subsidies.
Complete instructions can be found here
How to get online ration card
It all depends on the state which you are living in. if you are living in states like Delhi, West Bengal etc then you can easily complete the entire process online itself. But if your state doesn’t allow you to submit application form/proofs online then you will need to visit your nearby ration card office. You can apply directly from the office itself. I have found one useful page where you can check every information ralted to ration card (that too state wise). You can access the article from here
If you are not aware of whether your state’s government has provided online ration card facility or not then you can check the same by visiting your state’s Food and Supply website (alternatively you can visit state’s ration card website as well).
