New Delhi: The Ministry of Finance has said that Tamil Nadu has become the 11th State in the country to successfully undertake “One Nation One Ration Card system” reform.
The State has become eligible to mobilize additional financial resources of Rs.4,813 crore through Open Market Borrowings. Permission for the same was issued by the Department of Expenditure.
As per the PIB press release, Tamil Nadu has now joined 10 other states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh, who have completed this reform. On completion of the One Nation One Ration Card system reform, these 11 States have been granted additional borrowing permission of Rs.30,709 crore by the Department of Expenditure. State-wise amount of the additional borrowing permitted is as under:
One Nation One Ration Card System is an important citizen-centric reform. Its implementation ensures the availability of ration to beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other welfare schemes, especially the migrant workers and their families, at any Fair Price Shop (FPS) across the country.
The reform especially empowers the migratory population mostly laborers, daily wagers, urban poor like rag pickers, street dwellers, temporary workers in organized and unorganized sectors, domestic workers, etc, who frequently change their place of dwelling to be self-reliant in food security. This technology-driven reform enables the migrant beneficiaries to get their entitled quota of food grains from any electronic point of sale (e-PoS) enabled fair Price Shops of their choice anywhere in the country.
The reform also enables the States to better target beneficiaries, eliminate bogus/ duplicate/ineligible cardholders resulting in enhanced welfare, and reduced leakage. Further, to ensure seamless inter-state portability of a ration card, Aadhar seeding of all ration cards as well as biometric authentication of beneficiaries through automation of all Fair Price Shops (FPSs) with the installation of electronic point of sale (e-PoS) devices are essential.