India completes 'One Nation One Ration Card' implementation as Assam adopts scheme

As Assam became the 36th state to adopt the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) food security scheme, India has completed the rollout of the reform across the country. With the latest addition, all 36 states and union territories have now started issuing ration cards applicable across India, making food security portability a reality, ANI reported.

The National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries, especially migrants, have benefitted immensely from the ONORC as they received subsidised foodgrains during the COVID-19 pandemic. A statement released by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said the scheme, initiated in August 2019, has been swiftly implemented across the country, benefiting over 80 crore Indians.

Objective of ONORC scheme: Access to foodgrains across the nation

The objective of the food security programme is to make the beneficiaries self-reliant for their food security anywhere in the country. By giving the scheme pan-India applicability, citizens can make use of the cards across the country to purchase the subsidised foodgrains (in part or full) from any fair-price shop of their choice. This also enables the family members to buy the foodgrains, pending from the allowed quota in the ration card from anywhere in India. 

Mera Ration mobile application

In order to make the best use of ONORC, a mobile application has been launched for the beneficiaries to make use of the real-time information provided in 13 languages. 

The ONORC scheme is basically the nationalising of the ration card using Aadhaar seeding, enabling the beneficiary to purchase foodgrains from any fair price shop in the country, assuring the claim to food security irrespective of where the beneficiary resides.

ONORC: In Numbers 

• Portable transactions since launch (August 2019): 71 Crore portable transactions (43.6 crores NFSA and 27.8 crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojan (PM-GKAY) transactions)
• Foodgrains delivered worth: Rs 40,000 crore through portability
• Transactions in the COVID period (from April 2020 till date): 64 crore portable transactions (of which, 27.8 crore portability transactions were recorded under PMGKAY
• Foodgrains delivered worth: Rs 36,000 crore through portability

Additionally, as a key indicator, over three crore transactions are being recorded every month by delivering NFSA and free PMGKAY foodgrains with countrywide flexibility to the beneficiaries.