With an aim to empower women, Madhya Pradesh Government on Tuesday decided to issue ration cards  in the name of female head of a family and fixed a time limit for issuance and renewal of this important document.

The decision was taken by Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan here.

"Ration cards will be provided in physical/electronic form to eligible families. They will be issued in the name of senior-most woman member in a family.

"Senior woman in every family (not below 18 years of age) will be considered as its head and ration card will be issued in her name," Cabinet Spokesman and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Narottam Mishra told reporters.

"If a family does not have a woman above 18 years then ration card will be issued in the name of senior-most male member. When a woman member of such a family attains the age of 18, the card will be transferred in her name.

"A time limit of 15 days has been prescribed for issuance and renewal of ration cards. A duplicate ration card is to be issued in three working days," Mishra said.

Existing cards in the name of male members will be transferred to senior-most women in the families in a phased manner, he said.

Besides, provision of biometric distribution system of card has been provided in Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Harda and Khandwa districts, where the document has been linked to Aadhaar.

Norms pertaining to number of fair price shops (FPSs) have also been amended. For determining the number of such shops in an urban area, the total number of eligible families will be divided by 800. Every Gram Panchayat will have a fair price shop, the Minister said.