With effect from August 1, 2020, 3 states of Manipur, Nagaland and Uttarakhand, and one Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) have joined the One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) platform, increasing the total number of states/UTs under this scheme to 24. This information has been provided by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan while reviewing the progress of ONORC plan.
- The addition of above 4 states/UTs has ensured food security to 65 Crore (80%) of total National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 population for receiving food grains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) in 24 States/UT, under the scheme.
- When all the states are integrated under ONORC scheme, 81 crore NFSA beneficiaries can avail benefit.
- The scheme will be operational all over India by 31st March 2021.
About one nation, one ration card (ONORC):
The ONORC scheme announced in June 2019 allows portability of food security benefits across the country from 1st June 2020. This means poor migrant workers or the beneficiaries who are taking food grains under the Public Distribution System (PDS) will be able to buy subsidized rice and wheat from any FPS in the country.
- Simply, it is inter-state portability of ration cards by using their same/existing ration card with biometric/Aadhaar based authentication on an electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) device installed at the FPSs.
- The ONORC scheme becomes possible by implementing 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.
24 States/UTs included in scheme:
States– Andhra Pradesh (AP), Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh (HP), Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Uttarakhand.
UTs– Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (DNHDD), Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)
About Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution:
Ram Vilas Paswan Constituency- Bihar
Minister of State (MoS)– Raosaheb Patil Danve
