One Nation One Ration Card: Benefits & Key Features Explained

The One Nation One Ration Card scheme is the flagship program initiated by the Government of India (GoI) to support the underprivileged during the pandemic. You as a beneficiary of the One Nation One Card scheme can purchase food grains at discounted rates from a fair price shop (FPS) under the public distribution system (PDS) across India.
In this blog, you will learn about the One Nation One Ration Card scheme, its objective, benefits, eligibility, and how to apply for it.

• The One Nation One Ration Card scheme aims to provide subsidised food grains to you as a beneficiary of the National Food Security Act 2013.
• It is especially beneficial for the migrants who can now avail of discounted food anywhere in India.
• It allows family members to collect partial ration at a different location even if the beneficiary has migrated.
• It prevents food grain redistribution or wrongful distribution through iris or fingerprint-based authorisation.

Under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) of 2013, the Government of India aimed to distribute subsidised food grains to 80 crore Indian citizens. However, only 23 crore ration cards could be distributed.Further, the act mandated buying subsidised food from your community PDS (public distribution system) only. Thus, most migrants who relocated to a different town to earn a livelihood could not benefit from the scheme.To overcome the issue, the One Nation One Ration Card scheme was initiated in August 2019 in a phasewise manner. By June 2022, all 36 states and Union Territories (UT) adopted the One Nation One Ration scheme.Under the NFSA, 2013, the beneficiaries of the One Nation One Ration card can buy subsidised food grains of rice at ₹3 per kilogram (kg), wheat at ₹2 per kg and coarse grains at ₹1 per kg from the designated FPS.Recently, the government of India announced that all NFSA beneficiaries will receive free food grains for five years starting 1 January 2024 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

The objectives of the One Nation One Card scheme are:

• To facilitate all NFSA beneficiaries, getting subsidised food grains anywhere in the country through the portability of the existing ration card and/or issuing new cards.
• To enable family members to collect the balance/required amount of food grains on the same ration card at their native/ any place from the FPS.
• To avoid duplication or wrongful distribution of subsidised food grains to the same person at two or more locations.

You are eligible for a One Nation One Ration Card if you already hold a ration card under the NFSA, 2013, linked with your Aadhaar card number.If you want to get to enrol for a new One Ration One Nation card, you must be:

• An Indian citizen above 18 years of age.
• Below the poverty line.

Nation-wide portability, whether inter-state or intra-state, is implemented through an IT-driven system, which instals the seeding of beneficiaries' Aadhaar numbers with their ration cards, ePoS (Point of Sale) devices in FPSs, and biometric authentication of ePoS transactions in the States/UTs.To port your existing card into the One Nation One Card , you must visit and provide your ration card number to the nearest FPS. You can also provide your Aadhaar number if your ration card is linked. You will be asked to use one-time fingerprints or iris-based Aadhaar authorisation.After porting, you can visit any FPS, quote your card number or Aadhaar number, and authenticate the distribution of the grain through fingerprints or iris-based identification.

You can check your eligibility and apply for a One Nation One Ration Card by following these steps:

• Visit the official National Food Security Portal website at https://nfsa.gov.in .
• Check the status of your ration card by logging in using your Aadhaar number.
• Alternatively, you can also download the “Mera Ration” mobile application. Once downloaded, you can:

• Register as a new user.
• Find your nearest ration shops.
• Check eligibility criteria.
• View your transactions.
• Link Aadhaar to your account.

The government of India is committed to providing subsidised food to all the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act 2013. However, migrants faced some issues with the distribution system.With the introduction of the One Nation One Ration Card, rationing is now easy for migrants from anywhere in India. This scheme lets their family members get partial rations in another town or city.For insights into other government schemes, consider visiting Aditya Birla Capital Limited website, which offers valuable information on citizen welfare schemes rolled out by the government.