The COVID-19 pandemic has created the migrants crisis, and the absence of basic income and food security may hurt migrant workers the most.These workers are the wheel of the urban economy in India.According to the 2011 census, there are 45 crore internal migrants who accounted for 37 per cent of the population.
The finance minister recently announced the national roll out of a one nation one ration card system in all states and union territories by March 2021. It was initially proposed to nationally roll out the ONORC scheme by June 2020. The announcement made by the finance minister is in relation to the fiscal stimulus package (FSP). This is also part of the Prime Minister’s technology driven system reforms.
Since ration cards are issued by state governments, the beneficiaries could, so far, procure food grains only from the designated ration shops within the concerned states. If a beneficiary were to shift to another state, he /she would need to apply for a new ration card in the new state. Even after marriage a woman needed to get her name removed from her parental ration card and placed in her husband’s card.
The scheme
The ration card holder hitherto had to buy the rations from a fixed outlet. One Nation One Ration Card will ensure that all beneficiaries, especially migrants, can access ration across the nation from any PDS shop of their own choice.
A standard format for the ration card has been prepared after taking into account the format used by different states.
For national portability, the state governments have been asked to issue the ration card in bi-lingual format, with one language being the local language, and the other language either Hindi or English.
The states have also been told to have a 10-digit standard ration card number, wherein the first two digits will be state code and the next two digits will be running ration card numbers.
Besides this, a set of another two digits will be appended with ration card number to create unique member IDs for each member of the household in a ration card.
Benefits:
A major benefit will be hat 67 percent beneficiaries in 23states covering 83 percent of PDS population will be covered by national portability by August 2020.All the states and union territories will complete full EPS automation by March 21. Portability of 100 per cent will be achieved by March 2021.
Since people keep moving to different states in search of better job opportunities and higher standards of living, the scheme is essentially launched keeping in mind the internal migration of the country.
This will provide freedom to the beneficiaries as they will not be tied to any one PDS shop and reduce their reliance on shop owners and curb instances of corruption.
Concept of ONORC
Under this system a beneficiary will able to buy subsidized food grains from any fair price shop (FPS)across the country .Based on technological solution a beneficiary will be identified through biometric authentication. This will be done by the electronic point of sale (epos) devices installed at FPS.The person can purchase the quantity of food grain to which he/she is entitled under the NFSA (National Food Security Act).
Under NFSA 2013, about 81 crore persons can buy subsidized food grain from their designated fair price shops of the targeted public distribution system .About 23 crore ration cards have been issued to nearly 80 crore beneficiaries of NFSA in all states and union territories.
Portability
The scheme is aimed at intra state as well as interstate portability of ration cards. The integrated management of PDS (IM-PDS) portal would facilitate the technological platform for the interstate portability of ration cards, enabling migrant workers to buy food grains from any of the fps across the country.
The other portal ‘annavitran.nic.in’ hosts the data of distribution of food grains through E-Pos devices within states. Theannavitran portal enables the migrant worker or his/her family to avail the benefits of PDS outside their district but within their state.
A person can buy her/his share of food grains as per the entitlement under NFSA, wherever she/he is based , and the rest of the family members can purchase ration from their ration dealer back home.
How the Idea of ONORC and Biometric Authentication Evolved
It was to plug the leakages and black-marketing in the system and improve the system that the government started the reform process. The government used the technological solution involving the Aadhar card to identify the beneficiaries by biometrical information. The seeding of ration card with Aadhar is being done under this scheme, and the Pos machines are being installed at all the FPS across the nation. Once it is completed the portability of ration cards will become a reality.
Status
The scheme was launched in January 2020 in 12 states—Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Tripura. The scope of the scheme was extended to beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Daman Diu. By June 2020, three more states, namely are Odisha, Mizoram, and Sikkim, came on board.So, 20 states are now linked to IMPDS (Integrated Management of Public Distribution System).
Data shows that the usages of intrastate ration card portability is higher than the interstate portability.
Tamil Nadu has opposed the proposal of the Centre, saying it would result in undesirable consequences and is against federalism.
How Relevant in thePresent Context
Covid-19 is likely to lead to changes in migration patterns at least for a while, with migrants moving to the destinations closer home. This should be seen as an opportunity to develop smaller towns into areas that promote specific industries and skills. The unorganised sector Social Security Act, 2008, extended a system of documenting informal sector workers through a system of welfare boards. In this context, a nationwide ONORC scheme must become a reality now. This scheme will be very helpful for the welfare of migrant workers and could play a crucial role in averting the migrant crisis we see at present.
Challenges
The implementation of the ONORC is bound to face some challenges.
The problem of exclusion of errors have to be overcome. Exclusion errors, according to the NITI Aayog, were highest for marginalised groups, showing that vulnerable families were potentially being excluded from the benefits of the system. Often, there is failure in Aadhaar linkage, due to ‘biometric mismatch’ when the system fails to identify the beneficiary biometrically.
There is a need to weed out duplicate ration cards and ensure that FPS managers maintain accurate records.
The implementation of ONORC across the country would require all PDS shops to install electronic point of sale (ePoS) machines and all ration cards will have to be seeded with Aadhaar numbers. According to data available,ePoS are unevenly spread out across the country; a few states are much behind the rest. Bringing automation in remote areas in difficult terrain can be a huge challenge.
A harmonisation of the various food distribution systems in the different states is required to ensure that migrants benefit from a specified offtake. States will also have to ensure that their distribution and transport mechanisms are up to date.
A great deal of flexibility will have to be part of the food distribution system so as to be responsive to sudden changes in the number of beneficiaries across state boundaries; food requirements change from state to state. The amount of food grain will also have to be carefully considered. SSOne-time allocations, as is done at present, are unlikely to meet the needs of outcomes from heavy migration resulting from disasters, for example. . The logistics are going to be difficult.
A great issue is the quality of the goods available at these FPS. Will it improve?