Premium'One nation, one ration card' scheme: Addressing the nation on the ₹20 lakh crore Covid-19 relief package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday said national portability will be achieved in the 'one nation, one ration card' system by March 2021 across the country. "This will be implemented by August for 67 crore beneficiaries in 23 states. 67 crore is 83% of the entire PDS system," she added.
Here is all you need to know about the 'one nation, one ration card' system:
1) Under the initiative, eligible beneficiaries would be able to avail their entitled foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from any Fair Price Shop in the country using the same ration card.
2) The government wanted to implement 'one nation, one ration card' scheme across the country effective 1st June 2020.
3) A standard format for ration card has been prepared after taking into account the format used by different states and after consultation with other stakeholders.
4) For national portability, the state governments have been asked to issue the ration card in bi-lingual format, wherein besides the local langauge, the other language could be Hindi or English.
5) As of now, 17 states are on integrated management of the public distribution system (PDS).
6) Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Jharkhand and Tripura. Bihar, UP, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Daman and Diu have been integrated with the 'one nation, one ration card' system.
7) The eligible beneficiaries will be able to buy subsidised foodgrains, rice at ₹3 per kg, wheat at ₹2 per kg, and coarse grains at Re 1 per kg, from anywhere in the country.
8) In the present system, a ration cardholder can buy foodgrains only from an FPS that has been assigned to her in the locality in which she lives
9) According to data available on the IMPDS portal, the number of transactions done through inter-state ration card portability is only 274 as on May 15
10) The Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) portal provides the technological platform for the inter-state portability of ration cards.
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