One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

One Nation One Ration Card Scheme | UPSC

HEADLINES:

Seamless delivery of subsidised food grains to all NFSA migratory beneficiaries under One Nation One Ration Card scheme now enabled in 20 States/UTs; All other States/UTs are targeted to be integrated before March 2021

WHY IN NEWS:

Trial and testing in four more States/ UTs – Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland and Uttarakhand completed for enabling national portability soon

MINISTRY? :-Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: SCHEME

LEARNING:

For PRELIMS you have to remember the aim , vision and the beneficiaries of this scheme.

For MAINS it is the right time to revise NFSA 2013 once ! Let us dive in now .

ISSUE:

Technology-driven systemic reform for migratory NFSA beneficiaries, to enable lifting of entitled quota of food grains from any Fair Price Shop anywhere in the country by Aadhaar seeding of ration cards

LAUNCH

The One Nation One Ration Card facility was started as inter-State portability of ration cards in 4 States w.e.f. August 2019.

AIM

To implement nation-wide portability of ration cards under the ongoing central sector scheme on ‘Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS)’ in association with all States/UTs.

The One Nation One Ration Card facility is an ambitious plan and endeavour of Department of Food & Public Distribution.

VISION

The vision is to ensure the delivery of food security entitlements to all beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, irrespective of their physical location anywhere in the country

BENEFICIARIES

Through this system, the migratory NFSA beneficiaries, who frequently change their place of dwelling in search of temporary employments, etc. are now enabled with an option to lift their entitled quota of foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) of their choice anywhere in the country.
Beneficiaries will be using their same/existing ration card with biometric/Aadhaar based authentication on an electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) device installed at the FPSs.

One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

SIGNIFICANCE

Installation of ePoS devices at the FPSs and Aadhaar seeding of beneficiaries for biometric/ Aadhaar authentication are the main enablers of this system.
This can be accessed by beneficiaries by quoting either their ration card number or the Aadhaar number to any FPS dealer across the country.
Anyone in the family, who have seeded Aadhaar in the ration card can undergo authentication and lift the ration.

There is no need to share or carry the ration card or Aadhaar card with ration dealer to avail the benefit.

Beneficiaries can undergo Aadhaar authentication by using their finger prints or iris based identification.

IMPLEMENTATION

Since then, a total of 20 States/UT have been integrated together into a seamless national portability cluster w.e.f. June 2020.
Thus, this facility is currently enabled for NFSA card holders in 20 States/UTs.

STATES COVERED

These States/UTs are Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Sikkim, Mizoram, Telangana, Kerala, Punjab, Tripura, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

STATES UNDER TRIAL

Trial and testing in 4 more States/UTs of Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland and Uttarakhand have been completed for enabling national portability features under One Nation One Ration Card in these states very shortly.

IASbhai WINDUP:

The Public Distribution System (PDS) in the country facilitates the supply of food grains and distribution of essential commodities to a large number of poor people through a network of Fair Price Shops at a subsidized price on a recurring basis.

SOURCES:THE HINDU & PIB | Current Affairs News Analysis | Prelims & Mains 2020

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