Inter-State portability of ration cards launched in 4 states

Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution launched inter-State portability of ration cards i.e. public distribution in four adjoining states in two clusters (i.e. pairing two states) -Andhra Pradesh and Telangana & Gujarat and Maharashtra. It has been launched in a bid to implement major plan to roll out ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ by June 2020.

Inter-State portability of ration cards

The inter-state portability of ration cards is undertaken pairing two States each viz Telangana and Andhra Pradesh & Maharashtra and Gujarat. Under this mechanism, beneficiary from one state will be able to avail entitled subsidised foodgrains under Food Security Act from ration shops/Public Distribution System (PDS)/Fair Price Shops (FPSs) in any other paired state.

This means beneficiaries living in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh can buy their quota of ration PDS (ration shops), in either of the two States. Similar will be the in case of Maharasthra and Gujarat. In these four states, both intra-state and inter-state portability of ration card has been implemented successfully.

The intra-state and inter-state portability of ration card holders is achieved through installation of electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices FPSs, supported by the biometric/Aadhaar authentication

Future Implementation

Seven States, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tripura, at present are testing intra-portability of ration cards, which means beneficiaries can lift their quota of ration from any PDS located within a State. Gradually, inter-state portability of ration cards will be implemented in these seven states. By January 2020, these 11 states will be formed as one grid where ration cards will be made portable i.e. beneficiaries can buy ration from any one of these states.

Food Subsidy

At present, Central Government as per National Food Security Act supplies 5 kg of subsidised foodgrain to each person per month to over 81 crore people via 5,00,000 ration shops (PDS) in the country. The foodgrain is supplied to beneficiaries via ration shops at highly subsidised rate of Rs.3/kg for rice,₹Rs. 2/kg for wheat and Rs. 1/kg for coarse grains.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2019