GS-II: Ration Card Portability

News

The government is showcasing the rollout of the ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme as one of the biggest achievements of its first 100 days in power.The launch of the nationwide food security net is scheduled for June 2020, but several challenges remain before migrants can take advantage of full portability.

Ration Card

A ration card is issued to the head of the family, depending on the number of members in a family and the financial status of the applicant.

It is used by households to get essential food grains at subsidised prices from designated ration shops (also called fair price shops) under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).

Over the years, different types of ration cards were issued depending on the level of deprivation.

Later, in 2013, when the National Food Security Bill was passed, different ration cards were compressed to just two priority and Antyodaya (for the most poor).

One Nation One Ration Card scheme

• Until recently, this has been a location-linked benefit, leaving crores of migrant workers and families out of the food safety net.
• Each household’s ration card is linked to a specific fair price shop and can only be used to buy rations in that particular shop.
• Over the last few years, 10 States (partially in one) have implemented the Integrated Management of Public Distribution System, which allows beneficiaries to buy rations from any fair price shop within that State.
• The Centre is now in the process of expanding these efforts into a nationwide portability network which is called the ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme.
• It is scheduled to come into full effect by June 2020, after which a ration card holder can buy subsidised grain at any fair price shop in the country.

Beneficiaries of the scheme

The main beneficiaries of the scheme are the country’s migrant workers.

According to data from the Census 2011, there are more than 45 crore internal migrants in India, of whom more than half have not completed primary education, while 80% have not completed secondary education.

Registering for ration cards at their new location is an arduous process, especially if some members of the household still remain in their original home.

What is needed to make it work?

The scheme involves the creation of a central repository of NFSA beneficiaries and ration cards, which will integrate the existing databases maintained by States, UTs and the Centre.

Aadhaar seeding is also important as the unique biometric ID will be used to authenticate and track the usage of ration by beneficiaries anywhere in the country.

Currently, it is estimated that around 85% of ration cards are linked to Aadhaar numbers.

For the scheme to work, it is critical that all fair price shops are equipped with electronic point-of-sale machines (ePoS), replacing the old method of manual record-keeping of transactions with a digital real-time record.

Progress so far

• Two pairs of States Andhra Pradesh-Telangana and Maharashtra-Gujarat became the first to begin implementing portability between their States last month.
• From October 1, two more pairs Kerala-Karnataka and Rajasthan-Haryana will join the experiment.