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About this tool
Compare AAY, Priority Household and non-NFSA ration cards — monthly grain entitlement, issue prices and what the ration is worth.
This explainer sets out what each ration card category is worth under the National Food Security Act, 2013: an Antyodaya Anna Yojana card carries a flat 35 kg of foodgrain per household per month, a Priority Household card carries 5 kg per person per month, and a non-NFSA state card carries whatever the state decides. It converts your household size into the monthly and yearly quantity, prices it at the Schedule I rates of ₹3 a kg for rice and ₹2 for wheat, and shows what the same grain would cost in the open market.
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AAY, Priority Household and non-NFSA compared for the same family in one table.
Uses the 35 kg per household and 5 kg per person figures written into section 3(2) of the Act.
Prices the entitlement at both the Schedule I issue rates and the market rate you enter.
An AAY card gives 35 kg of foodgrain per household per month regardless of how many people are on it, while a Priority Household card gives 5 kg per person per month. So a three-member AAY household gets more grain than a three-member PHH household, but an eight-member PHH household gets more than an eight-member AAY one.
Schedule I of the Act sets issue prices of ₹3 per kg for rice, ₹2 per kg for wheat and ₹1 per kg for coarse grains. Since 1 January 2023, however, the NFSA quota has been supplied free of cost under PMGKAY, extended for five years from 1 January 2024, so eligible cardholders pay nothing for the central entitlement.
State governments identify households within the coverage set by the Act — up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population — using guidelines they frame themselves. AAY is meant for the poorest of the poor, such as landless labourers, marginal farmers and households headed by a widow, a disabled person or someone above 60 with no assured subsistence. Apply through your state food and civil supplies department.
Yes. Under One Nation One Ration Card, a cardholder can draw the entitlement from any fair price shop in the country using biometric authentication on the ePoS device. The quantity stays the same as on your home card, and family members can split the quota across locations.