Karnataka will soon allow ration card holders to complete mandatory e-KYC through a mobile application using facial authentication, reducing the need to visit fair price shops for the verification process. Food Minister Rizwan Arshad said the facility would be implemented within a week, as the state continues e-KYC for 2.67 crore beneficiaries.
The minister announced the plan after a meeting with department officials at Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday. He said e-KYC was mandatory once every five years for ration card holders under an order of the Union government. Of the 2.67 crore beneficiaries covered by the process, 97,54,197, or 37%, had completed e-KYC so far, according to the minister.
The mobile process is intended to reduce pressure on fair price shops, where beneficiaries have been arriving in large numbers to collect their rations and complete verification. The department said the high volume of activity has resulted in server and technical problems in some locations.
To support the process, the Food Department has provided a separate URL within its mobile application for e-KYC. The proposed facial-authentication facility will allow beneficiaries to complete the process through their phones instead of depending entirely on in-person visits to ration outlets. The source report did not specify the application name, device requirements or the precise date on which the mobile facility will go live.
The department has instructed its officials to resolve technical problems as soon as they are reported. The minister also said that, for the first time, the department was conducting a mock load test to assess the capacity and performance of its server infrastructure.
The scale of the exercise places operational importance on the department’s digital systems. With only 37% of the stated beneficiary base having completed e-KYC, the remaining process will involve a substantially larger number of users than the completed group. The department’s server testing and the proposed mobile option are therefore being introduced while beneficiaries continue to depend on the public distribution system for ration access.
The minister did not announce any change to the five-year e-KYC requirement. The Food Department’s next stated steps are to implement mobile facial-authentication access within a week, continue processing applications through the dedicated URL and address server or technical failures reported by beneficiaries and fair price shops.
