‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme, which will allow portability of food security benefits, will be available across the country. This means poor migrant workers will be able to buy subsidized rice and wheat from any ration shop in the country.

Currently Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura are 10 states where 100% point of sale (POS) machine have been arranged and all PDS shops have been connected to the internet.

Ration Card-

Under the Act, all state governments in India have to identify households that are eligible for purchasing subsidized food grain from the PDS and provide them with ration cards. There are two types of ration cards under NFSA-

1. Priority ration card – priority ration cards are issued to households that meet the eligibility criteria set by their state government. Each priority household is entitled to 5 kg of food grain per member.
2. Antyodaya (AAY) ration cards- issued to “poorest of poor” households. Each AAY household is entitled to 35 kilograms of food grain

Before the NFSA was enacted, there were three types of ration cards-

1. Above Poverty Line (APL) ration cards that were issued to households living above the poverty line Planning Commission. These households received 15 kilogram of food grain (based on availability).
2. Below Poverty Line (BPL) ration cards that were issued to households living below the poverty line. These households received 25-35 kilograms of food grain.
3. Antyodaya (AAY) rations cards that were issued to “poorest of poor” households. These households received 35 kilograms of food grain

One Nation One Ration Card

• It will ensure all beneficiaries especially migrants can access PDS across the nation from any PDS shop of their own choice.
• Interstate portability of ration card

Benefits-

• No poor person is deprived of getting subsidized food grains under the food security scheme when they shift from one place to another.
• It also aims to remove the chance of anyone holding more than one ration card to avail benefits from different states.
• Important for migrant workers
• Add to the nutrition value to the poor consumers
• Add to integration of the country

Significance-

• It will provide freedom to the beneficiaries as they will not be tied to any one PDS shop and reduce their dependence on shop owners and curtail instances of corruption.
• Linking with Aadhaar removes possibility of corruption.
• No additional cost actually because the scheme goes on the entitlements that are mandated in the National Food Security Act.

Challenges-

• Prone to corruption- Every state has its own rules for PDS. If ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ is implemented, it will further boost corruption in an already corrupted PDS. The explanation given to this is that with the help of technology government is de-duplicating the ration cards.
• The scheme will increase the woes of the common man and, the middlemen and corrupt PDS shop owners will exploit them.
• Tamil Nadu has opposed the proposal of the Centre, saying it would result in undesirable consequences and is against federalism.
• Within some states issue of intra state portability
• Different states have different rates and these mismatching rates will be a big challenge.