Ration Card and PDS Guide — Entitlements and Shortages
Quick Reply: If a shop is giving less than your entitlement, the transaction record on the state PDS portal is the evidence that settles it. This guide sets out what you are owed, the records that prove it, and the escalation ladder from dealer to DGRO.
Direct answer. Ration problems split cleanly into card problems — getting one, adding a name, correcting a record — and supply problems — short measure, refusal, or a dealer who says stock has not arrived. The second kind leaves a paper trail in the state PDS system, and that trail is what makes a complaint stick.
What you are actually owed
The National Food Security Act, 2013 sets the floor, and every state PDS runs on top of it.
- Priority households: 5 kg of foodgrain per person per month.
- Antyodaya Anna Yojana households: 35 kg per household per month, regardless of family size.
- Coverage: up to 75 percent of rural and 50 percent of urban households fall under NFSA protection.
- Portability: with One Nation One Ration Card, you can lift your ration from any fair price shop in any state — the entitlement travels with the card, not the village.
And since January 2024, the entitled quantity is free. Under the PM Garib Kalyan arrangement extended for five years from 1 January 2024, the foodgrain allocation under NFSA carries no price — you pay nothing for the entitled quantity. If a shop charges for it, that is not a local rate, that is a violation worth reporting with the transaction record.
The paper trail that wins supply disputes
Every authenticated sale at a fair price shop leaves a mark: the electronic point-of-sale transaction on the state PDS portal, the shop's stock register, and the sale register. When you get short measure, do three things the same week: check your transaction history on the state portal (it shows what was recorded against your card), note the date and shop, and ask a neighbour with a card to check theirs — a pattern across cards turns one complaint into an audit. An RTI asking for the shop's stock-arrival dates and sale register entries for the month routinely exposes the gap between what arrived and what was issued.
The escalation ladder
- Shop-level: demand the shortage be recorded; the dealer must display entitlements and stock received.
- District: the District Supply Officer / Controller of Food accounts for shops; the District Grievance Redressal Officer appointed under the NFSA is the statutory stop for complaints that the department ignores.
- State and Centre: the State Food Secretary, and for central issues the Department of Food and Public Distribution, reachable on CPGRAMS.
- Records that force movement: an RTI under Section 6(1) asking for the complaint's status, the officer assigned, and the stock-and-sale registers of the shop.
Three checks before you complain
Confirm your own record first: card active, eKYC done, entitlement quantity correct for your family size — because a complaint built on a wrong premise dies at the counter. Then check the month's transaction record on the state portal, and only then name the shop, the date and the shortage. A complaint that arrives with these three facts reads as audit material; one without them reads as noise.
When the shop refuses or gives short measure
Card status and lists
Forms and templates
Complaining and escalating
Comparisons
More ration and PDS guides
Still stuck?
If a department has the record you need and will not hand it over, an RTI application is the route that forces the question. Start with the RTI application format, and if the reply does not come or does not answer, the first appeal is the next step. The full method, with worked ration examples, is in The RTI Playbook.