Ration card portability
Also called: ONORC, One Nation One Ration Card · Topic: Agricultural Marketing, MSP, Buffer Stocks and PDS · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Ration card portability lets a beneficiary draw PDS grain from any fair price shop in India, not only the shop where the card was issued. The person proves identity by biometric authentication, such as a fingerprint. It was rolled out as One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) during 2019-22. It especially helps migrant workers, who used to lose their ration when they moved for work.
Example
A worker from Bihar takes a construction job in Delhi. Using ONORC, the worker collects NFSA grain from a fair price shop in Delhi. The family back home can still draw the remaining share from their village shop.
Don't confuse with
- One nation one market: this is about farmers selling their produce anywhere in India. ONORC is about consumers drawing their ration anywhere.
Related concepts
- Public distribution system
- Fair price shop
- Central issue price
- Targeted PDS
- Universal PDS
- Leakages in PDS
- Food security
- Nutrition security
- Hidden hunger
- Biofortification