What comes in your mind when you hear the word ration card?

Or let’s say do you have ever considered also about having a ration card

What is the purpose of having a ration card at all, do we still use the ration card for the purpose it was created?

Ration card is one of the first legal devises formed by the government of India to get the Indian citizens listed in a structured format way back in early days of our independence

The purpose was to create a system which help us club the data of the users in India apart from a voters list , it was also created to create subsidies and offer food and daily purpose articles at a better and subsidized rates to Indian citizens

It was not long ago that ration card was a mandate or all the citizens of India to use in their daily activities, ration card was not just useful to create an identity but also to get groceries on rural and urban areas of India

Although the real purpose of ration card has been defeated by todays online and open economy world , but it still remains a very important document for Indians to prove their identity and to get other articles and paper work done across all the states of India

Although Ration card is a privilege given for citizens who have low margin income and are unable to afford the prices for essential commodities like food, oil.  It is by no means meant for everyone in the country.

Ration card was primarily used to providing rice/wheat/cooking oil/kerosene to people with lower income and who cannot afford to buy these basic commodities from market.
This set up proved to be a flop show and it gave rise to a big problem called black-marketing.

With coming of age ration card has become a really important tool to maintain the documentation for us Indians

Ration card online is required for multiple purposes like

Opening a bank account
Pan card applications
Passport application
Aadhar card

Its treated as a proof of residence also for various government and non-government offices as well