Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the ambitious scheme of the One Nation-One Ration Card across the country has brought a lot of relief to the poor.
Tomar said that through Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, the Central Government has provided free food grains to the poor, worth Rs 3.90 lakh crore, whereas under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, underlining its commitment to the welfare of the farmers, the government has made a record purchase of Rs 2.75 lakh crore on MSP in 2021-22.
Tomar informed that various schemes including One Nation-One Ration Card, distribution of fortified rice, targeted public distribution and other schemes of the Center are being extended to all the beneficiaries.
Giving details about the progress of One Nation-One Ration Card scheme, he said that starting with portability among 4 states in August 2019, till now the scheme has been rolled out in all 36 States/UTs, which includes about 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries i.e. about 100 percent of the country’s NFSA population.
Since the launch of the ONORC scheme in Aug-2019, more than 93 crore portability transactions have been registered under the scheme, in which more than 177 LMT food grains have been distributed. During the year 2022, 39 crore portability transactions were done in 11 months, in which more than 80 LMT food grains have been distributed including inter-state and intra-state portability transactions of NFSA and PMGKAY.
He said that in order to increase the nutritional value of rice and its scope, the announcement was made by the Prime Minister on the 75th Independence Day (15 August 2021) to provide nutrition by providing fortified rice under all government schemes. The implementation of the first phase covering ICDS, PM Poshan in the States/UTs started in FY 2021-22. Under ICDS and PM Poshan, 17.51 lakh metric tonnes of fortified rice has been distributed.
The implementation of the second phase started from April 2022. States have taken 16.79 LMT rice. The implementation of the third phase will start from the year 2023-24, in which some remaining districts of the country will also be covered.
He said that under the reform of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), 100 percent NFSA ration card/beneficiary data has been digitized in all States/UTs. Details of 19.5 crore ration cards covering about 80 crore beneficiaries are available on the transparency portal of the States/UTs.
More than 99.5 per cent ration cards are linked with Aadhaar (at least one member of the household). 99.8% (5.33 lakh out of 5.34 lakh) Fair Price Shops are being automated with the use of electronic point-of-sale devices for transparent, assuring distribution of subsidized food grains to the beneficiaries.
