One Nation One Ration Card Yojana: Ration card and PDS system in this country is of great significance as it helps millions of citizens to get their food supplies as per the National Food Security Act (NFSA). To make the PDS system more flexible and accessible for all the beneficiaries, the Government introduced One Nation One Ration Yojana. By March 2021, this scheme will be implemented in the entire nation for all the beneficiaries.

एक देश एक राशन कार्ड योजना: भारत सरकार ने 2020 में “वन नेशन वन राशन कार्ड” योजना शुरू की और यह 1 जून 2020 से सभी राज्यों और केंद्रशासित प्रदेशों में लागू होने जा रही है। वर्तमान में केवल 17 राज्यों ने इस योजना को लागू किया है और बहुत जल्द 3 और राज्य भी इसे लागू करेंगे। । हाल ही में, केंद्रीय उपभोक्ता मामले, खाद्य और सार्वजनिक वितरण मंत्री राम विलास पासवान ने ट्वीट किया कि यह योजना मार्च 2021 तक सभी लाभार्थियों को लाभ प्रदान करेगी। इस योजना के तहत, राशन कार्ड धारक एक ही राशन कार्ड का उपयोग करके देश भर में किसी भी एफपीएस दुकान से अपने हिस्से का राशन के प्राप्त कर सकते हैं।

One Nation One Ration Card Scheme- An Overview

One Nation One Ration Card Yojana

Ram Vilas Paswan, the current Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution announced “One Nation One Ration Card” program in January 2020. This scheme has been launched with an aim to provide subsidized ration supplies to all the ration card beneficiaries through the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) on the basis of the same ration card irrespective of their current dwelling place.

This scheme is mainly beneficial for the migrants who travel from one place to another in search of employment or livelihood. After the implementation of this scheme, beneficiaries can avail the benefits across the nation using the same ration card.

As per the present PDS system, an individual in a particular state can only buy the food grains or civil supplies only from the Fair price shop in his/her locality. But after the implementation of One Nation One Ration card system in the country, people will be able to buy ration from any of the FPS across the country.

The government has recently announced that there will be 100% coverage under this scheme by March 2021. Currently, the scheme is in operation in only 17 states/UT as a pilot program for checking the portability of this scheme but from June 1^st it will come in effect in the entire country.

Salient Features of ONORC

1. ONORC is a Central Government initiative launched the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the month of January 2020.
2. It was inaugurated by Ram Vilas Paswan to check portability in two groups of states i.e. Gujarat & Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and currently it has been adopted by 17 states.
3. It will be implemented in the whole country from 1st June 2020.
4. It is aimed to provide food security benefits at affordable prices to the beneficiaries without any difficulty as per NFSA and to bring country-wise portability of the people having ration cards.
5. This scheme will allow ration card holders to avail ration supplies at subsidized rates from any FPS shop in any part of the country.
6. The One Nation One Ration Card IMPDS online portal that helps to collect all the data of PDS systems across the nation at a single platform.
7. As per a recent tweet from the government, Migrants will be able to buy ration from any PDS of the country by March 2021. The government also says that 67 crores of people from 23 states having 83% PDS population will be covered under this scheme by August 2020 and by March 2021, 100% coverage will be achieved.
8. To implement this scheme, POS (point of sale) mechanism will be installed at every FPS shops so that data can be easily collected by the IMPDS portal.

Significance of One Nation One Ration Card

The main objective of this scheme is to provide nation-wide portability to ration card beneficiaries. Apart from this there are various other benefits of this Central Government scheme. Have quick look at all the major benefits of ONORC scheme given as under-

• Intra-state and inter-state portability of ration cards- The first and most important significance of this scheme is the interoperability of RC, which means beneficiaries can use their card to get their entitlement from any FPS shop whether it is in the same state or in other state using the same ration card. Before the introduction of this scheme, ration card of one state was not valid in other state or any FPS shop other than the local FPS shop where the ration card holder is registered.
• This scheme provide migrants universal access to ration shops (PDS) across the country.
• Technology will play a big role in the implementation of this scheme across the country. On the basis of Electronic Point of Sales devices that will be installed at every FPS, data will be collected and reflected on IMPDS. The technology initiated scheme will help in identifying the genuine beneficiary on the basis of bio-metrics.
• It also provides ration card beneficiaries a choice to select their ration dealer. In case they are not satisfied with their existing FPS dealer they can switch to another dealer without any problem. एक देश एक राशन कार्ड योजना
• It will also help government to achieve its target to eliminate hunger and provide food to every individual of the country.

States/ UTs where Scheme is in operation currently

Currently there are total 17 States and Union Territories where this scheme is currently in force. The other states will implement the scheme from 1st June. Check which states have already implemented the scheme-

1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Bihar
3. Daman & Dui (UT)
4. Goa
5. Gujarat
6. Haryana
7. Himachal Pradesh
8. Jharkhand
9. Karnataka
10. Kerala
11. Maharashtra
12. Madhya Pradesh
13. Punjab
14. Rajasthan
15. Telangana
16. Tripura
17. Uttar Pradesh

However, there are 17 states which are following One Nation One Ration card scheme and remaining states are also going to implement it, the number of transactions as per the date available in the IMPDS portal (w.r.t inter-state portability) is low. But when we talk about intra-state it is quite high. So, with this we can conclude that this scheme is quit beneficiary for the migrants and other ration card holders and to make it more successful, the central government have to work effectively in association with the state government.

Regular Ration Quantity- Food grains are supplied through ration shops at a highly subsidized rate of approximately Rs. 3/kg for rice, approximately Rs. 2/kg for wheat and approximately Rs. 1/kg for Chana Dal through PDS as per the NFSA. In Lockdown, 5 kg Wheat/Rice and 1 Kg Chana Dal will be distributed without any charge.

Sources:-

• Press Release- ONOR
• Ministry of Consumer Affairs Press Release
• Govt News Letter –Check Here