Odisha, UP tops state ranking for implementation of Food Security Act

Odisha and UP have been declared the most effective in the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) through ration shops while Goa and Chhattisgarh have been laggards, rankings released by the government showed on Tuesday.

As per the ranking released by Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Odisha topped the table with a score of 0.836, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. 

Gujarat occupied fourth place, followed by Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman Diu, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand.

Kerala has been ranked at the 11th position, Telangana (12th), Maharashtra (13th), West Bengal (14th) and Rajasthan (15th). Punjab is at the 16th position, followed by Haryana, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Goa. 

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that India is now 100% connected under the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC). He added that 45 crore transitions have taken so far providing the beneficiaries with the freedom to collect ration from any State or UT in the country.

Goyal clarified that subsidy claims are pending not because the funds are not available with the Centre, but because the states or UTs are not providing relevant data. 

 “As many participating States/UTs raised concern over delay in CAG audit, he directed the officials to get in touch with CAG for expediting the audits. All claims after April 2020, will be digitized,” Goyal added.