The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan approved the integration of 5 States and Union Territories, – Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu – with the National Cluster under the “One Nation One Ration Card” plan.
Twelve States are already onboard the National Cluster, namely – Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura.
With this, the facility of national/inter-State portability will be available for nearly 60 Crore NFSA beneficiaries of 17 States/UT and they may lift their entitled quota of foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) of their choice, anywhere in these 17 States/UT by using their same/existing ration card under ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ plan.
About One Nation One Ration Card
Under PDS reforms, a scheme on “Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS)” is being implemented w.e.f. April 2018 in all States/UTs. The main objective of the scheme is to introduce nation-wide portability of ration card holders under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), through ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ system.
This system enables the migratory ration card holders/beneficiaries to lift their entitled foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) of their choice in the country by using their existing/same ration card issued in their home State/UT after biometric/Aadhaar authentication on electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices installed at the FPSs.
Under this initiative, there is no added burden on any State/UT, as the quota of foodgrains distributed to other States’/UTs’ beneficiaries through national portability, shall be periodically reconciled and adjusted between concerned States/UTs.
