One Nation One Ration Card Yojana ONORC एक देश एक राशन कार्ड योजना Benefits, Features

One Nation One Ration Card: With an enormous population of 1.25 billion, India is one of the largest producers and consumers of Food. Yet a quarter of the nation strives to access the Foodgrains for subsidized rates. Considering the situation the central government of BJP has come out with a long-awaited project One Nation One Ration Card aiming to cover 80 crores beneficiaries under the scheme. The announcement took place on 20th January 2020 by the Food and Public Distribution system minister Ram Vilas Paswan and the mid-quarters of 2020 (June and July 2020) saw the implementation procedure of the scheme. The scheme has been implemented in 34 states/ UTs till August 2021.

One Nation One Ration Card

Between 01st April 2020 to 30th September 2021, approx. 24.32 crore portability transactions were recorded across States/UTs The scheme is benefitting a large number of NFSA beneficiaries, and migrants. Approximately 23.6 crore ration cards have been digitized to cover 80 crore beneficiaries of all states and Union Territories. One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) is a central government project launched in 2020 to facilitate the portability of One Ration Card throughout the country.

It is a significant scheme that caters to providing the Access of Foodgrains to the Underprivileged sections or migrant workers through their Ration cards via the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The targeted beneficiaries under the scheme are 80 crores who can visit any of the Public Distribution System shops throughout the nation with special emphasis on the proper entitlement of the ration and Foodgrains.

Benefits of One Nation One Ration Card

The ONORC scheme covers significant merits for the beneficiaries. Some of them are stated below:

• The scheme will encourage the poor migrants to access the Foodgrains from any part of the Public distribution system shop of the country
• The adulteration and black marketing business will witness a big stop as the availability of additional beneficiaries will also increase.
• The geographical barriers associated with the existing card’s reach will be removed as per the newly launched One Nation One Ration card scheme
• The ONORC scheme will provide more transparency as the ONORC card will be monitored under the supervision of the Central Government to the state governments.
• The Pan India implementation of the ONORC scheme will Uprise the number of India on the Global Hunger Index.
• The mobilization of the beneficiary will be increased and the reach of the beneficiary will also be enormous in the whole country.

Features of One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

Below provided are the traits of the ONORC scheme:

• Under the ONORC scheme, the perks and benefits can be availed by both the existing and New Ration cardholders.
• Presently the state governments of different states have different criteria for PDS rates, and Foodgrains entitlement allotted in their states. So the current ONORC scheme provides uniformity in them along with the addition of Official languages with the existing regional language to make it easier for the beneficiaries to avail of the ration.
• The authentication of the Beneficiary will be on the basis of the Aadhaar card they carry. Thus, there will be a setup of ePOS (electronic point of sale) devices in the PDS shops. The states that completely regulate the availability of ePOS devices will be marked eligible for the ONORC.
• As per the new format, the Ration card will carry 10 digits. The initial two will comprise the State code, the succeeding next 2 places will comprise the number of the current ration card and the next 2 will have the UID(unique identity number) of the beneficiaries.
• Now the Beneficiaries of the Ration card will have more alternatives and choices regarding their PDS shops. They can change their PDS shops and visit the alternate one in case of proximity or satisfaction issues.
• Technology is a crucial part of the scheme as the ONORC scheme comes with its APK which will provide the Beneficiaries with complete Dashboard access. Also, the Digital accessibility and linking of Ration cards will facilitate authenticating the PDS shop owner to authenticate the beneficiary and grant His/Her the entitled ration.
• Upon the successful completion of reaching and registering the targeted beneficiaries, the ONORC scheme will become the largest central government Ration scheme distribution in the world. Below is the video of PM Modi speaking on the perks and progress of the scheme.

Overview of One Nation One Ration Card

Provided below is a tabular representation of the key highlights of One Ration, One Ration Card:

Statistics Of Ek Desh Ek Ration Card

Eligibility Principle for One Nation One Ration Card

Registering for a One Nation One Ration Card requires the following principles to be fulfilled by the citizens:

• The applicant must be a bonafide citizen of any of the present federal states of India
• The minimum age to apply for the ONORC ration card is 18 years. Age below the required criteria will be assimilated under the Guardians ration card.
• Applicant must belong to the underprivileged section of the society i,e. Economically weaker section, Migrant labourers, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Disabled person, etc.

Documents Required for One Nation One Ration Card

While applying for the One Nation One Ration Card scheme, the Applicant must keep the following documents to register:

• An official ID issued by the Government of India such as an Aadhaar Card/Voter ID card etc.
• Residence certificate of the Applicant
• A copy of the Bank Passbook of the applicant denoting the Bank details of the Applicant
• Passport size photographs
• Copy of the existing ration card if the candidate is a migrant from the other state
• An Income certificate duly signed by the Tehsildar or an equivalent authority of the region of the applicant

Types of Ration Cards under ONORC scheme

Ration Card is a document issued by the state governments of India that entitles the Beneficiary to get Foodgrains at subsidized rates. The ONORC scheme’s implementation will ensure the following categories of ration cards:

• Priority Household Ration Card (PHH) – These are the ration cards granted to the beneficiaries who fulfil the eligibility principle of the state. Generally, the Beneficiaries falling under this category are Above the Poverty line.
• Antyoday Anna Yojana Ration Card- These are the ration cards issued to households who live in extreme poverty and fall below the poverty line index.

One Nation One ration Card Functionality

During the launch of the Budget for the Year 2021 in February, Financial Minister Nirmala Seetharaman stated that around 86 per cent of the Scheme has been implemented making up 67 crore beneficiaries of the states of the whole nation so far and the 4 states and union territories which remain so far will be covered up soon. The FM also ensured the Launch of an official central portal of the scheme in the coming months that will contain the record of migrants, construction workers, Public distribution ration data, and a complete Dashboard that will denote the progress report and e-services of the portal.

The below tabular representation provides the beneficiaries’ number with respect to their states as of December 2020 under National Food Security Act:

Limitations under One Nation One Ration Card

Being a Nationwide Scheme, the One Nation One Ration Card has its fair share of challenges. Some of them are provided below:

• Presently still there exist some sections in society that are deprived of the Aadhar card yet which makes them vulnerable to not getting elected or undergoing the process of making ration cards under the ONORC scheme.
• The present decentralized Food process system governs on the basis of the criteria and Rations as per the respective state governments of various states. Thus, the ONORC facilitation for the migrants shall create a logistical imbalance in some regions.
• The absence of the web portal of the scheme till now creates a hindrance to the transparency of the data pertaining to the migrant’s registration, occupational state, and Dashboard
• Underorganized labourers who are poor migrants rely mostly on domestic work which may create a ruckus in times of Bio-metrics match as the fingerprints shall differ more frequently.

How to overcome the restraints under One Nation, One Ration Card Scheme?

Provided below are some of the key points that strive to enhance the hurdles of One Nation One Ration Card:

• The concerns of Logistics can be overcome through the earlier launch of the systemized Official web portal of the One Nation, One Ration Card scheme.
• Progress of the ONORC scheme can be determined through the compulsion of Social Auditing.
• The valid data can be obtained through the beneficiaries while considering the Unorganized sector social security act, 2008.
• Curbing the migration problems and adding on Migration policies at the National level will decrease the burden from the PDS serving the migrants of other states.

About Mera Ration Application

Mera Ration Application is an APK file developed by the National Informatics Centre for Android devices under which the Beneficiaries shall access the complete dashboard providing complete access to the Entitlement, Aadhaar Seeding, PDS shops, etc. Thus, the Application provides digital access to the key services of the ONORC to the applicant or beneficiary of the state with one tap.

How to Download the Mera Ration Application?

To download the Mera Ration APK into the device, Applicants must follow the steps provided below:

• Visit the Play Store or your Android Device
• Upon the search bar, Type Mera Ration and press the enter button.
• Once the Mera Ration APK appears from the search result, Tap the Install button located on the right.
• The Mera Application will start downloading and will be installed on your device.
• Once the application gets installed, open the Application and provide your Login credentials (registered mobile number)
• A One time password will be sent to your device for authentication
• Provide the OTP inside the Application and the Dashboard as shown in the image below will appear on the screen.
• The beneficiary shall tap on his/her desired section to check the status.

ONORC Helpdesk

Queries or complaints of the Beneficiaries or a fresh Applicant can be resolved via connecting to this Toll-Free Number 14445.

ONORC FAQs