'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme will come into effect from January 15, 2020

The 'One Nation One Ration Card' initiative of the government will come into effect from January 15, 2020. Initially, the scheme will be first implemented in 12 states--Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Kerala, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Tripura and Jharkhand.

In these 12 states, 35 million people will benefit from the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme and the ration cardholders of these states will be able to use their ration card in any state. A total of 79 crore people in the country have ration cards. 

The scheme is aimed at providing benefits to migrant labourers and daily wagers as it will allow the eligible beneficiaries to avail their entitled food grains under the National Food Security Act from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) at subsidised rate using the same ration card.

The beneficiaries would be able to avail the entitled foodgrains after biometric/Aadhaar authentication on ePoS (electronic Point of Sale) devices. According to Paswan, the facility of inter-state portability under the 'One Nation One Ration Card' initiative would be available only through those FPSs which have ePoS devices.

Earlier in Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan on December 3 had announced that the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme will come into force across the country from June 1, 2020. "This system would largely benefit the numerous migrant beneficiaries such as labourers, daily wagers, blue-collar workers etc. who frequently change their place of dwelling in search of employment or for other reasons across the country," Paswan had added.