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ONE NATION ONE RATION CARD SCHEME (ONORC)

Chahal's Gyan Ki Baat

 

INDEX

REFERENCE WITH UPSC-CSE SYLLABUS

WHY IN NEWS

ABOUT

BACKGROUND  

HOW ONE NATION ONE RATION CARD SCHEME WORKS

KEY POINTS

CURRENT COVERAGE

WHY WAS ONE NATION ONE RATION CARD SCHEME LAUNCHED

BENEFIT TO MIGRANT WORKERS

GOVERNMENT STEP IN PROMOTING ONE NATION ONE RATION CARD SCHEME

CASE STUDY

CHALLENGES

CONCLUSION

EXPECTED PRELIMS QUESTIONS

EXPECTED MAINS QUESTION

ADDITIONAL POINTS FOR BETTER CLARITY

WHAT IS ELECTRONIC POINT OF SALE (EPOS)

 

REFERENCE WITH UPSC-CSE SYLLABUS

  • General Studies-II, General Studies-III
  • Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.
  • Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.

WHY IN NEWS

  • By July 31, throughout the country, the Supreme Court had earlier ordered the operation of Centre's One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme.
  • On July 19 Delhi Cabinet decided to implement the scheme.

ABOUT

  • From any fair price shop anywhere in the country under the National Food Security Act, 2013, One Nation One Ration Card scheme allows migrant workers and their family members to buy subsidised ration.
  • Implemented by – Ministry of Consumer Affairs.

BACKGROUND  

  • Outside the jurisdiction of the specific fair price shop to which they have been assigned, National Food Security Act beneficiaries were not able to access their PDS benefits.
  • To give them access to benefits from any fair price shop, the government envisioned the One Nation One Ration Card scheme.
  • After 100% Aadhaar seeding of ration cards has been achieved, full coverage will be possible and all fair price shops are covered by ePoS devices (there are currently 4.74 lakh devices installed across the country).
  • In April 2018 Work on ration card portability, had begun itself, with the launch of the IM-PDS(Integrated Management of Public Distribution System One Nation One Ration Card).
  • In August, 2019, ONORC was launched.
  • As an inter-state pilot, ONORC was initially launched.
  • A need was felt to expedite the rollout, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced thousands of migrant workers to return to their villages last year.
  • The government announced the national rollout of ONORC in all states and Union Territories by March 2021, as part of its Covid economic relief package.

HOW ONE NATION ONE RATION CARD SCHEME WORKS

  • Beneficiaries’ ration card, Aadhaar number, and electronic Points of Sale (ePoS), it is based on technology that involves these details.
  • Through biometric authentication on ePoS devices at fair price shops, the system identifies a beneficiary.

With the support of two portals this system runs:

  • Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) (impds.nic.in)
  • Annavitran (annavitran.nic.in), which host all the significant data.
  • In a fair price shop, when a ration card holder goes he or she recognizes himself or herself through biometric authentication on ePoS, which is accorded real time with details on the Annavitaran portal.
  • The dealer hands out the beneficiary’s entitlements, once the ration card details are verified.
  • A record of intra-state transactions , inter-district and intra-district ,the IM-PDS portal records transactions is maintained by the Annavitaran portal.

KEY POINTS

  • Around 81 crore people are permissible to buy subsidised foodgrains, wheat at Rs 2/kg, rice at Rs 3/kg, and coarse grains at Re 1/kg, from designated fair price shops, under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
  • As on 28 June 2021, there are about 23.63 crore ration card holders and 5.46 lakh fair price shops across the country.
  • Near the place where his ration card is registered, each National Food Security Act ration card holder is assigned to a fair price shop.

CURRENT COVERAGE

  • Till date, about 69 crore National Food Security Act beneficiaries.
  • About 1.35 crore portability transactions every month are being recorded under One Nation One Ration Card scheme on an average, according to the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
  • Since the inception of ONORC in August 2019, a total of more than 27.83 Crore portability transactions (including intra-state transactions) have taken place all across these States/Uts.
  • During the COVID-19 period of April 2020 to May 2021 itself, almost 19.8 Crore portability transactions have been recorded .

WHY WAS ONE NATION ONE RATION CARD SCHEME LAUNCHED

  • Public distribution system(PDS) which is historically marred by inefficiency and leakages, the idea was to reform it.
  • To target beneficiaries and work for their benefit.
  • For elimination of duplicate ration cards.
  • To enhance the welfare of people.

BENEFIT TO MIGRANT WORKERS

  • For example a migrant worker from Bihar will be able to access PDS benefits in Mumbai(where in search of work he or she may have gone).
  • To their ration dealer back home, members of his or her family can still go and get ration there.

GOVERNMENT STEP IN PROMOTING ONE NATION ONE RATION CARD SCHEME

  • The government has provided incentives to states, to promote this reform in the Public Distribution System (PDS).
  • Last year(2020) during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre had even set the implementation of ONORC as a precondition for additional borrowing by states.

CASE STUDY

  • In Bihar a ration dealer, said a migrant worker took half of his family’s entitlement from his shop, and left the remaining for his brother who lives in the village.
  • The dealer said he would only give his brother the full entitlement or nothing.
  • If the dealer is not giving ration then what can he do.
  • Who is to blame for this situation Migrant worker, dealer or government.

CHALLENGES

  • Intra-district and inter-district transactions are low.
  • Most of the inter-state migrants are single(mostly male) and for their families back home most of them leave the rations and eat out.
  • Due to their fingerprints are worn out, many needy people have been unable to access their food entitlements.
  • Sometimes because of failure to connect to the database many needy people have been unable to access their food entitlements.
  • There is no grievance redressal mechanism or proper instruction at fair price shops.
  • At some places the dealers misbehave and make fool of innocent people by giving less grain to them.

CONCLUSION

  • If a family split across two places how to ensure that they are able to withdraw grain in both locations?
  • For this multiple members of the family have their Aadhaar numbers entered in the public distribution system and also that coordinating in the withdrawal of grain by the migrant and their family back home is required.
  • It can be very complicated to implement sometimes and looks good on paper only.
  • National Food Security Act covers only 67% of the population based on the 2011 census and it has not been updated since then.
  • Around 45% of India’s population (over 100 million Indians) is excluded from the National Food Security Act.
  • So it is time for Universalisation of the public distribution system that will also include those who do not have ration cards.
  • Every day about 19 crore people in India sleep hungry.
  • If going to moon is possibe then providing food to them is also possible.

 

EXPECTED PRELIMS QUESTIONS

Q1. Consider the following statement regarding One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

  1. This scheme is implemented by finance ministry
  2. It allows migrant workers and their family members to buy subsidised ration.
  3. Beneficiaries’ ration card, Aadhaar number, and electronic Points of Sale (ePoS), it is based on technology that involves these details.

Which of the following statement is correct?

(1) a and c

(2) a and b

(3) b and c

(4) All of the above

SOLUTION

STATEMENT A is incorrect because this scheme is implemented by ministry of comsumer affairs.

STATEMENT B is correct because it allows migrant workers and their family members to buy subsidised ration.

STATEMENT C is correct because Beneficiaries’ ration card, Aadhaar number, and electronic Points of Sale (ePoS), it is based on technology that involves these details.

 

Q2. Objective to launch One Nation One Ration Card Scheme is

  1. Public distribution system(PDS) which is historically marred by inefficiency and leakages, the idea was to reform it.
  2. To target only rural workers and work for their benefit.
  3. For elimination of duplicate ration cards.
  4. To enhance the welfare of people.

Which of the following statement is correct?

  1. b, c and d
  2. a, b and d
  3. a, c and d
  4. a , b , c, d

SOLUTION

  1. STATEMENT A is correct because Public distribution system(PDS) which is historically marred by inefficiency and leakages, the idea was to reform it.
  2. STATEMENT B is incorrect because To target beneficiaries(All) and work for their benefit.
  3. STATEMENT C is correct because For elimination of duplicate ration cards.
  4. STATEMENT D is correct because To enhance the welfare of people.

 

Q2. Which of the following statements are correct

  1. Around 81 crore people are allowed to buy subsidised foodgrains, wheat at Rs 10/kg, rice at Rs 15/kg, and coarse grains at Re 12/kg, from designated fair price shops, under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
  2. As on 28 June 2021, there are about 23.63 crore ration card holders and 5.46 lakh fair price shops across the country.

(1) a only

(2) b only

(3) Both a and b

(4) Neither a nor b

SOLUTION

STATEMENT A is incorrect because Around 81 crore people are allowed to buy subsidised foodgrains, wheat at Rs 2/kg, rice at Rs 3/kg, and coarse grains at Re 1/kg, from designated fair price shops, under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

STATEMENT B is correct because As on 28 June 2021, there are about 23.63 crore ration card holders and 5.46 lakh fair price shops across the country.

 

EXPECTED MAINS QUESTION

Q1. Crtically analyse One Nation One Ration Card scheme and its impact on food distribution in india.

 

ADDITIONAL POINTS FOR BETTER CLARITY

WHAT IS ELECTRONIC POINT OF SALE (EPOS)

  • Designed to help you run the business more effectively, it is a combination of hardware and software.
  • EPOS systems record transactional information as well as generate detailed reports in response to the input data.

Sources used:

The Hindu,The Indian Express, British Broadcasting Corporation News, Press Trust of India, Business Standard, The Economic Times