One Nation, One Ration Card: Know all about the govt scheme

The system aims to provide ration and food security to migrant workers and their families under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other schemes.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed states and Union territories to implement the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme till July 31 and said they “must run community kitchens to feed migrants till the end of the pandemic”. The top court also ordered the central government to provide dry ration for free distribution among migrant workers till the situation eases.

The scheme was launched on a pilot basis in four states in 2019 by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. (File photo for representation)

A bench of justice Ashok Bhushan and justice MR Shah issued a slew of directions on a plea of three activists seeking directions to the Centre and states to ensure food security, cash transfers and other welfare measures for migrant workers who faced distress again due to curfews and lockdowns in various parts of the country during the second wave of coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The scheme was launched on a pilot basis in four states in 2019 by Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. The system aims to provide ration and food security to migrant workers and their families under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other schemes.

Here’s all about the One Nation, One Ration Card scheme:

'One Nation, one Ration Card' system is one of the four citizen-centric reforms identified by the department of expenditure under the Union finance ministry. The department has also allowed additional borrowing of 0.25 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to states completing the implementation of the system, which translates to additional borrowing permission of ₹37,600 crore.

The additional borrowing limit of 0.25 per cent is only allowed to states after completion of both the actions — Aadhaar seeding of all the ration cards and beneficiaries in the state and automation of all the Fair Price Shops (FPSs) in the state. The automation and Aadhaar seeding is to ensure seamless inter-state portability of the card and also helps eliminate bogus or ineligible cardholders.

The 'One Nation, One Ration Card' is a tech-driven system that allows labourers, daily wagers, urban poor like rag pickers, street dwellers, temporary workers in organised and unorganised sectors, domestic workers, etc to get their daily quota of food grains from any electronic point of sale (e-PoS)-enabled FPS of their choice anywhere in the country.