One Nation One Ration Card System
Status of ONORC Scheme:
- The preliminaries of the scheme, which involve linking recipients’ ration cards to their Aadhaar numbers and installing e-Point of Sale (e-POS) devices at each FPS, have already been completed in 32 States and Union territories.
- In order for food subsidies to have full mobility, the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, depends on the public distribution system (PDS), a network of more than 5,000 fair-price merchants (FPS).
- This would be guaranteed based on authorized and validated data from Aadhaar.
- The Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IMPDS) interface keeps track of every purchase made through ONORC.
Benefits of ONORC:
- Enabling Right to Food: Prior to the National Food Security Act, ration card holders could only get the food grains they were entitled to at discounted prices in the designated Fair Price Shops (FPS) in the appropriate state.
- However, if a beneficiary transfers to a new state, they must submit an application for a new ration card in the new state.
- ONORC aims to make the right to food reality and get rid of the physical obstruction to social justice.
- Supporting 1/3 of the Population About 37% of the population are migrant workers. In light of this, anyone who intends to move should think about utilizing the strategy.
- Leakage Reduction: Because deduplication is an essential part of this system, the ONORC can lessen leakages.
- This will stop one person from receiving benefits in two different regions of the country.
- The majority of corruption-related possibilities are also completely eliminated by the system’s connections to Aadhaar and biometrics.
- Reducing Social Discrimination: ONORC will be especially beneficial for women and other disadvantaged groups since social identity (caste, class, and gender) and other contextual elements (including power relations) offer a strong backdrop for accessing PDS.
Associated Difficulties:
- Exclusion Error: The PDS method has been pushed toward digitization using Aadhaar-linked ration cards and smart cards in an effort to stop leaks. Nevertheless, there have been more exclusion errors in post-Aadhaar seeding.
- Numerous social groups are still without Aadhar cards, which prevents them from accessing food security.
- Plans based on domicile for the social sector: Prior to PDS, the majority of anti-poverty, rural employment, welfare, and food security programs relied on domicile-based access, which prohibited individuals from claiming social security, welfare, and food benefits from the government where they were born.
- Disruptions in supply At FPS: An FPS’s monthly product quota is exclusively determined by the number of people assigned to it.
- When fully operational, the ONORC would put an end to this practice because, due to population mobility, some FPSs could need to support more cards while others support less.
How to Proceed:
- Creating Additional Distribution Centers: In the event that emergencies continue to restrict consumption at ration stores, alternative delivery options may be taken into account for supplying food to at-risk communities.
- Prioritizing Nutritional Security: Nutritional security must be taken into consideration while discussing food security. Therefore, ICD services, midday meals, vaccines, medical care, and other facilities must be mobile, according to ONORC.
- PDS Will Be Replaced with Food Coupons: The PDS system might eventually be replaced by a secure food voucher system or a direct benefit transfer.
- Rice, pulses, sugar, and oil can be purchased at the going rate from any Kirana store by a family living below the poverty line by paying in full with the coupon or with cash.
Conclusion:
- ONORC has drastically changed the ecosystem of public distribution since the Food Security Act. It will assist in achieving SDG 2’s objectives of eradicating hunger by 2030 and ensuring food security for migrant workers without jobs.
