EXPLAINED | What Is 'One Nation One Ration Card'? Here's How Migrants Can Avail Benefits

New Delhi: The One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme which allows for inter- and intra-state mobility of in-kind benefits, such as subsidised food, will “very soon” be implemented across the country, including Delhi, according to Union food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey .

The programme, presently active in 32 states and Union territories, is yet to be implemented in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Assam while Delhi has implemented the scheme partially.

Earlier, the Supreme Court has directed all states and Union Territories to implement the system by July 31.

As per the Hindustan Times report, West Bengal will soon finish the installation of necessary infrastructure to roll out the platform while Chhattisgarh will also complete the purchase of 4,000 e-PoS machines for its PDS system in July after which the state will be in a position to start the ONORC system. The report states that Assam has completed seeding 60 per cent of Aadhaar information of beneficiaries for the rollout.

What are benefits of 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme?

The One Nation-One Ration Card Scheme has been implemented across the country under the National Food Security Act 2013. This includes about 5.25 lakh ration shops across the country. Under the National Food Security Act, rations are being delivered to people over the age of 65 and the disabled at their homes.

The government started the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme for giving subsidised rations to migrant citizens. Under this, people who are going through economic hardship can avail essential grains like wheat, rice at a very low price. Any ration cardholder can avail this scheme.

Here’s how to avail the benefit under this plan

Launched in August, 2019, the work on ration card portability initially started in 2018 after the launch of the IM-PDS. It was implemented with an aim to reform the PDS, which has been historically suffered due to inefficiency and leakages.

This system is based on biometric system which identifies the ration card holder through biometric authentication on ePoS, which is matched real-time. If a ration card holder migrates to another city, he can provide the information by registering on 'My Ration App'. After registration, he will get the ration there. At the same time, it will be easier for the migrant beneficiaries to know through this app how many ration shops are operating around them under PDS apart from the information on the nearest stores.