Inter-state portability of ration cards begins with Andhra-Telangana and Gujarat-Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday kickstarted the inter-state portability of ration cards with two clusters of states - Andhra Pradesh-Telangana and Gujarat-Maharashtra - which is the beginning of major plan to roll out ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ by June next. Under this mechanism, beneficiary from one state will be able to get subsidised foodgrains from ration shops in any other state.
Launching the two pilots, Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said from now beneficiaries living in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh can buy their quota of ration from fair price shops or ration shops in either of the states. Similar would be the case in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
He added that the intra-state portability of ration cards is already happening in seven states - Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tripura - and in these cases the beneficiaries can lift their quota of ration from any PDS located within the state.
Food secretary Ravi Kant said gradually the inter-state portability of ration card will be implemented in all these states by January 2020.
The beneficiaries will be able to get the entitled foodgrain and can even have the option to buy certain portion of the entitled quantity. This is expected to be a huge help to migrant labourers.
Paswan said managing the grain-chain won’t be a problem because the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns have enough capacity and they have been asked to stock three months of ration in advance.
Currently, the government supplies 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains to each beneficiary per month to over 81 crore people. Foodgrains are supplied at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg of rice, wheat and coarse grain under the National Food Security Act.