‘One Nation One Ration Card’ Scheme

One Nation One Ration Card” scheme

• The union govt. is working on a plan to launch a “One Nation One Ration Card” scheme for beneficiaries to access to any PDS shop across the country.
• The scheme is aimed at providing freedom to beneficiaries, as they will not be tied to one PDS shop.
• It aims to reduce their dependence on shop owners and curtail corruption.
• The biggest beneficiaries will be migrant workers who move to other states to seek better job opportunities.

Plan of action

• PoS machines are available at all PDS shops in various states, like Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and a few other others, but 100 per cent availability is required to provide the benefit across the country.
• The availability of PoS (Point of Sale) machines needs to be ensured at all PDS shops to implement the scheme.

Implementation

• The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution will implement the scheme.
• It will be subsumed under the Integrated Management of PDS (IMPDS), under which beneficiaries can avail their share of food grain from any district.
• Such a scheme is operational in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura.

Importance of the scheme

• The work done by the PDS  fair price shops is a lifeline for 81 crore beneficiaries across the country.
• There is 612 lakh tonnes of food grains stored in warehouses of FCI, CWC, SWCs and private godowns for distribution annually.
• Around 78 per cent of Fair Price Shops in India have so far been automated by installing electronic PoS devices.