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Understanding One Nation, One Ration Card

Aug. 14, 2020   •   Madri Chandak

Profile of the Author- Shriya Ojha is a second-year student at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi and deeply interested in constitutional law, criminal law, and questions of policies.

Introduction

It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention. In the current times, when the entire world is gripped with a pandemic, the government is looking for creative and effective solutions to cope up with issues of national importance. One of the most prominent issues that confronted the government has been the problems arising out of inter-state migration. The nationwide lockdown not only wreaked economic havoc on the migrant workers but also seized their chance of travelling back to their home state due to the interstate travel restrictions. Due to the absence of a ration card of the place they migrated to, the population could not gain access to subsidised food grains in these difficult times. In this respect, Union Finance Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, in her second address of the economic package, launched a nation-wide rollout of the “One Nation, One Ration Card” scheme. It is pertinent to be noted that the scheme has been underway since 2018 and was expected to be implemented on a nation-wide basis on June 1, 2020, in any case but the migrant labour crisis made the implementation a matter of urgency and necessity.

Background of the Scheme

The ONORC scheme was first initiated as a part of the “Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS)” central scheme by Ram Vilas Paswan, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, in February 2018 for implementation during 2018-19 and 2019-20. The main objective of the programme was to integrate the existing data of TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System) portals of States/UTs with the Centre portal and ensure nationwide portability of ration card. The scheme was launched on a pilot basis in 2019 in four states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and in twelve other states from January 2020. The scheme aims to cover the entire population of beneficiaries under the National Food Security act 2013 which accounts for 67% of the total population. [1]

What is the ONORC scheme and how is it different from the pre-existing system?

Under the pre-existing system, a ration card was 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 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 poorest). The responsibility of identifying eligible families and issuing ration cards to them rests with the state/UT government. Under this system, the holder could avail the benefits only at a designated Fair Price Shop (FPS) near the residence of the holder in the concerned state where the card was issued. If the beneficiary was to migrate to another state, or even within the same state, a new ration card had to be obtained.

The ONORC aims to address this gap by providing a system that would help the beneficiaries gain access to any FPS across the country. In this respect, the Centre has rolled out a national standard format of the ration card and integration of data of all states and UTs in a central repository. Under the scheme, every BPL family gets 35 kg. food grains. In Western Districts - (20 kgs Rice and 15 kgs Wheat), in Eastern Districts - (25 kg Rice and 10 kg Wheat) each month at a fixed price. The price of wheat is Rs. 3 per kg. and rice at Rs. 2 per kg.

Eligibility

  1. All the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act, 2013 will be covered under the scheme. 
  2. There is no need to get a new ration card to avail the benefits of this PDS scheme. Under this scheme, all previous ration cardholders across the country will be able to get cheaper food grains from FPS in any corner of the country. 
  3. However, a mandatory linking of Aadhaar with ration-card is a mandatory requirement. The cardholder will be identified on the basis of his/her Aadhaar based identification through the Electronic Point of Sale (e-PoS) device. Since the home state of the cardholder has all his/her data and entitlements, states will be able to fetch data from the central server after biometric authentication.

Infrastructural Changes

  1. Every FPS in the country will be required to install an e-PoS device. The states having 100% installation of e-PoS devices will be integrated into the scheme.
  2. Indian states have different formats and languages in the ration card. But from now on, all the states will follow a standard format. The state governments have been requested to issue the ration card in the bi-lingual format, wherein besides the local language, the other language could be English or Hindi. Ration-cards of a new format will have a 10-digit standard ration card number. The first two digits of the ration card will be state code and the next two digits will be running ration card numbers while another two digits will be used to generate unique member IDs for each beneficiary of the ration card.
  3. As per the new scheme, the cardholder will be correctly identified and the allotted quantity of supply will be distributed. The consumers will be recognised by cross-checking the fingerprint biometric in Aadhar. As the finger will touch the machine, the amount of ration allocated to that card will be displayed and a bill will be printed.

Challenges of the Scheme

The step is a great move towards tackling issues of hunger and starvation by increasing accessibility of food grains and other structural challenges that arise out of starvation. The move will also tackle duplication and black market of ration cards. However, the implementation is the challenging part.

  • The government has to make sure that nationwide linking of Aadhar to ration-card is executed on a priority basis so that people can avail the benefits of the scheme. Without the implementation of the former, the scheme will not have the desired effects.
  • Fair price shops across the country must be equipped with e-PoS machines so that States can be integrated within the system as soon as possible.
  • Oftentimes, the state governments provide food grains to beneficiaries at prices further lower than the prices set by the central government. In such a case, the migrated workers would only be eligible to avail food-grains at the prices set by the Centre. The migrated worker shall also not be eligible for any other schemes that the state is offering to cardholders of that specific state.
  • The supply-chain distribution would require structural changes as the economically well-off states such as Maharashtra, Punjab see a larger influx of migrants as against other states. Therefore, the requirements of food grains per state will change.

Conclusion

The scheme is a landmark move in the direction of curbing hunger and starvation and attaining 100% food security. It is expected to target almost 81 crore people across the country. The move not only exemplifies the “socialist” aspect of our preamble but also promotes the unitary spirit that is enshrined in the constitution. The DPSPs especially article 47 [2] read alongside article 21 [3] gives the right to food a fundamental character. It has also been recognised as a part of article 21 in People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India & Others [4] Unequal economic growth across the country has given rise to the phenomenon of migration; therefore, it is the responsibility of the state to make sure that migration does not prevent these people from availing the benefits offered by it.  Right to food has been read as a part of the right to life via. a catena of judgements and the ONORC is a strong step towards the realisation of the same.

Disclaimer: This article is an original submission of the Author. Niti Manthan does not hold any liability arising out of this article. Kindly refer to our Terms of use or write to us in case of any concerns.


FAQs

Q. How many states in India have the Integrated PDS?

Ans. As of now, 17 states are on integrated management of the public distribution system (PDS).

References

[1] https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=191101

[2] Indian Constitution Article 47 -Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.

[3] Indian constitution Article 21, Protection of life and personal liberty No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law

[4] People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India & Others AIR 196/2001


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