Telangana's Smart Ration Cards Under Fire from Union Minister

Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar has questioned the Telangana government’s decision to print photographs of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on smart PDS ration cards. Sanjay Kumar also questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph was not included on the cards, despite the Centre providing rice to the state government. “Neither the chief minister nor the concerned minister is permanent,” he told reporters on Saturday, claiming that around Rs 600 crore was being spent on the smart cards. He cited Karnataka, where ration cards issued by the Congress government carried the photograph of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and allegedly became unusable after he left office.