OdishaPlus Bureau
The Centre has given states and Union Territories time till June 30, 2020 to roll out the ‘one nation, one ration card’ system, under which beneficiaries can buy subsidized food grains from ration shops in any part of the country. This is one of the 100 days agenda of the Modi 2.0 government.
Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said already 10 states -AP, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharasthra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura — are providing portability of Public Distribution System (PDS) entitlements.
“By next June 30, 2020, ‘one nation, one ration card’ should be implemented without fail in the entire country. We have written letters to the state government to fast track the implementation of this system,” Paswan told reporters.
The new mechanism will ensure no poor is deprived of PDS entitlement if that person shifts from one place to another. The system will also help remove fake ration card holders.Eleven states, including Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh can easily implement PDS portability as Point of Sale (PoS) machines have been installed in all ration shops.
In November 2016, the government has implemented the National Food Security Act, under which food grains are supplied every month at highly subsidized rates of Rs 1-3/kg to over 80 crore people in the country.
According to the new system, beneficiaries are required to show their Aadhaar card to buy food grains from any ration shop in the country. Only ration card will suffice if beneficiaries want to get their PDS entitlement only from a particular registered ration shop.
So far, Aadhaar cards of about 89 per cent of beneficiaries have been linked with the system, while 77 per cent of ration shops have installed PoS machines. As many as 22 states have 100 pc PoS coverage and there is no problem in implementing the new system.
