The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ms. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 14 December shared that through technology-driven ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ (ONORC) system, all beneficiaries under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), particularly migrant beneficiaries, can lift their monthly entitled foodgrains, either in parts or full, from any electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) enabled Fair Price Shop (FPS) in the country by using their existing ration card or Aadhaar number with biometric authentication. Their family members back home, if any, may also lift the part/balance foodgrains on the same ration card.
‘One Nation One Ration Card’ plan for nationwide portability of ration cards is implemented by this Department under the Central Sector Scheme i.e. Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS), which was sanctioned in April 2018 with total outlay of Rs. 127.3 Crore.
The scheme is extended till 31st March 2023. So far, financial assistance of Rs. 46.86 Crore has been released to States/UTs, NIC/NICSI, etc. during last three financial years 2020-21 (Rs.12.65 crore), 2021-22 (Rs.23.76 crore) and 2022-23 (Rs. 10.45 crore).
