GS PAPER III: Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment.

Context: The Supreme Court has directed all states and UTs to implement the One Nation, One Ration Card system, which allows for inter- and intra-state portability, by July 31.

One nation one ration card scheme (ONORC)

• The ONORC scheme, launched in August 2019, seeks to ensure portability of ration cards so that beneficiaries can use them across fair price shops.
• It is aimed at enabling migrant workers and their family members to buy subsidised ration from any fair price shop anywhere in the country under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
• To promote this reform in the archaic Public Distribution System (PDS), the government has provided incentives to states.
• The Centre had even set the implementation of ONORC as a precondition for additional borrowing by states during the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
• At least 17 states, which implemented the ONORC reform, were allowed to borrow an additional Rs 37,600 crores in 2020-21.

How does ONORC work?

• ONORC is based on technology that involves details of beneficiaries’ ration card, Aadhaar number, and electronic Points of Sale (ePoS).
• The system identifies a beneficiary through biometric authentication on ePoS devices at fair price shops.
• The system runs with the support of two portals —Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) (impds.nic.in) and Annavitran (annavitran.nic.in), which host all the relevant data.
• When a ration card holder goes to a fair price shop, he or she identifies himself or herself through biometric authentication on ePoS, which is matched real time with details on the Annavitaran portal.
• Once the ration card details are verified, the dealer hands out the beneficiary’s entitlements.
• While the Annavitaran portal maintains a record of intra-state transactions — inter-district and intra-district — the IM-PDS portal records the inter-state transactions.

How many people will it benefit?

• Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, about 81 crore people are entitled to buy subsidised foodgrains — rice at Rs 3/kg, wheat at Rs 2/kg, and coarse grains at Re 1/kg – from designated fair price shops.
• As on 28 June 2021, there are about 5.46 lakh fair price shops and 23.63 crore ration card holders across the country.
• Each NFSA ration card holder is assigned to a fair price shop near the place where his ration card is registered.

What factors led to the launch of ONORC?

• Earlier, NFSA beneficiaries were not able to access their PDS benefits outside the jurisdiction of the specific fair price shop to which they have been assigned.
• The government envisioned the ONORC to give them access to benefits from any fair price shop.
• The idea was to reform the PDS, which has been historically marred by inefficiency and leakages.
• As part of its Covid economic relief package, the government announced the national rollout of ONORC in all states and Union Territories by March 2021.

What has been the coverage so far?

• Till date, 32 states and Union Territories have joined the ONORC, covering about 69 crore NFSA beneficiaries.
• Four states are yet to join the scheme — Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and West Bengal.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/one-nation-one-ration-card-benefits-implementation-supreme-court-modi-govt-7381857/

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