- Launched by: Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan
- Purpose: Ration cardholders especially the migrated beneficiaries who covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) can avail their food grains from any of the 5.4 lakh fair price shops (FPS) of their choice, without obtaining a new ration card.
Key feature:
- This initiative will help the large migratory population, who migrate from one part of the country to another in search of job or employment, marriage, or any other reason, and find difficulty in accessing subsidized food grains in the present system.
- The government is targeting to implement the 'One Nation, One Ration Card' scheme across the country by June 1, 2020.
- The scheme was launched on 1st August 2019 on a pilot basis in four states- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. It will provide a major boost to the national food security government.
- Seven other states: Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tripura are now testing this intra-state portability.
- The families who have food security cards can get the benefits to buy rice, wheat or any food grain at a subsidized price from any ration shop in the mentioned states. Also to avail the service, the ration cards will need to be linked with the Aadhaar Number.
- The Union Government plans to extend this scheme to all the states by August 2020.
Other Facts:
- At present, more than 4.1 lakh (77%) of the ration shops across the country have PoS machines and more than 85% of people covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) have their cards linked to Aadhaar.
- Last year, around 2.82 crore consumers benefited in Telangana and now more than 56 lakh beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act in Telangana are expected to benefit from the scheme.
Questions:
Q: 1. Where is the headquarter of Food Corporation of India?a) New Delhi
b) Mumbai
c) Chennai
d) Bengaluru
Answer: Option a
Q: 2. How many districts are there in Telangana?
a) 10
b) 31
c) 33
d) 13
Answer: Option c
Explanation: Telangana, now has 33 districts. The two new districts are Narayanpet and Mulugu.
