Department of Food and Public Distribution Secretary Sudanshu Pandey on Monday convened a meeting with authorities in the States and Union Territories to review the progress in implementing One Nation One Ration Card scheme, which allows beneficiaries to life their PDS provisions from anywhere in the country.
During the Budget presentation, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the scheme is under implementation in 32 States and UTs, covering a total of 86 per cent of beneficiaries and the rest will be implemented it in a few months.
During the meeting, Pandey urged the States to deepen the progress about installation of electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices, Aadhaar seeding of beneficiaries, biometric authentication of PDS transactions and portability transactions (both inter-State and intra-State), an official statement said.
The Centre has linked the successful implementation of the scheme to an additional borrowing of 0.25 per cent of GSDP. The Secretary asked the States to submit their proposal for additional borrowing by February 15, the statement said.
One Nation One Ration Card plan is aimed at introducing the nation-wide portability of ration cards under the National Food Security Act, 2013. Its implementation would help migrant beneficiaries to seamlessly access their NFSA foodgrains/benefits anywhere in the country. Currently, this system is seamlessly enabled in 32 States and UTs, covering about 69 crore beneficiaries.