One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

What is One Nation One Ration Card?
One Nation One ration card (ONORC) will help in providing grains, rice and wheat flour at subsidised rates for the economically weaker section of the nation. Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement of the 'One Nation One Ration Card'(ONORC) scheme for the poor in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this conversion of a regular ration card to the One Ration Card, all beneficiaries and cardholders can purchase subsidised food from any Public Distribution Shop all over the country.
The ONORC scheme has been rolled out by the Finance Minister on 16 May during the last phase of the Prime Minister's Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan which included stimulus funds of Rs.20 lakh crore. This ration card has been launched in all states and Union Territories in the country and 20 states have already agreed to implement this scheme in their state.
Migrants to benefit from One Nation One Ration scheme -
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Union Budget 2021 announced that migrants in India will benefit under the One Nation One Ration scheme. Sitharaman said that migrants can purchase ration from anywhere in the country by using their ration card.

Purpose of the One Nation One Ration Card

In the country, around 80 crore beneficiaries are entitled to receive subsidised food and grain under the National Food Security Act 2013. However, for the 80 crore beneficiaries, only 23 crore ration cards have been issued in all the states and Union Territories of the country.
Previously, with the ration card, a beneficiary could only purchase subsidised food and grain from the PDS (Public Distribution System) which was assigned to them in their locality. Due to this, there have been many issues faced by the migrants who shift to other cities for work. However, by converting their existing ration card to ONORC, he or she can purchase subsidised food from any FPS shop in any locality and in any city.
The Financial Minister also mentioned that for the citizens who do not own a state or central issued PDS card, they will be given 1 kilogram of 'chana' and 5 kilograms of grain for the next two months.

Benefits of the One Nation One Ration Card

ONORC has been in the works since April 2018. The conversion of the regular ration card to the One Nation One Ration Card is expected for all beneficiaries in all states and Union Territories by 2021.
The major benefit of the One Nation One Ration Card is that the people who are eligible to receive subsidised food grain can do so from any FPS shop in any city. With many of the people migrating to different cities and the previous inability to purchase food grain in any other city, the One Ration card can help the livelihood of migrant workers all over the country.
Some of the other benefits of the ONORC are:

• Under the ONORC, all the beneficiaries from one state can get their share of rations in other states where the ration card was originally issued. Any recipient can use their ration cards at any PDS shop across the country. ONORC is aimed at providing universal access to PDS food grains for migrant workers.
• Apart from this, ONORC will also give the beneficiaries the opportunity to choose their own dealer. With many cases of misallocation, the beneficiary can switch to another FPS shop instantly, if there is any case of foul play.
• This scheme will be beneficial for women and other groups, since social identity and other contextual factors will provide them with a strong backdrop in accessing PDS.
• The ONORC will also help achieve the target set under SDG 2: Ending hunger by 2030. It also aims to address the poor state of hunger in India, where India has been ranked 102 out of 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index.

Source: https://www.bankbazaar.com/ration-card/one-nation-one-ration-card.html