The National Food Security Act (NFSA) now allows migrants who travel across districts and states to obtain subsidized food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), thanks to the portability of ration cards. One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme has helped millions of daily-wage workers, temporary workers in trade and industry, and domestic workers access foodgrain at heavily subsidized rates from the ration shops at their work centres since its launch in August 2019.
A Food Ministry official told that every month around 2.5 crore portability transactions are being recorded across 35 states and union territories, which are part of the ONORC network. A total of 56 crore transactions have taken place so far under ONORC, in which 10 million tonnes of foodgrain have been provided to migrants at a subsidy of Rs 31,000 crore.
The families of the migratory beneficiaries continue to receive the balance ration under NFSA. All 24 crore ration cards have been digitalized with Aadhaar seeding, enhancing their portability. In addition, 96% of the 5.4 lakh fair price shops (FPSs) in the country have electronic point-of-sale machines. Through portability, NFSA beneficiaries can be verified with their biometrics and Aadhaar at the time of lifting foodgrain.
‘Currently, close to 90% of monthly transactions under NFSA are biometrically authenticated,’ Sudhanshu Pandey, secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, said. Due to the defined coverage of beneficiaries under NFSA, migrant beneficiaries had difficulty getting ration cards issued at their place of employment prior to the launch of ONORC. Thus, NFSA beneficiaries were deprived of their food security benefits in the event of migration or being away from their villages and towns or designated FPSs.
A ration card has 10 digits, plus two digits that create a unique member ID for each beneficiary. Five to six crore people migrate seasonally to various states in search of work. A total of 8 crore people move from one district in their home state to another. ONORC portability is currently available to around 77 crore beneficiaries out of 81 crore covered under NFSA. All states except Assam have not yet opted in. Through digitalisation and Aadhaar seeding, the food ministry reports that states and UTs weeded out 4.74 crore duplicate ration cards during the 2013-2021 period.
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