Poor response to portability of ration cards

‘Migrants prefer obtaining fresh ration cards from State Dept. to getting original cards transferred’

Residents collecting the commodities at a Mobile Ration shop in Padi Kuppam Road, Anna Nagar West in Chennai.

Tamil Nadu, which is implementing the One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme, seems to be an outlier when it comes to the execution of the initiative aimed at achieving “seamless intra-State and inter-State portability” of ration cards.

Ever since the State joined the scheme on October 1 last year, it has been recording lesser transactions than other States. Only a negligible number of transactions is being recorded. Consequently, an insignificant quantity of foodgrains (rice or wheat) is being distributed through the public distribution system.

 

One of the key features of the scheme is ensuring that migrant workers can claim their quota of rations from anywhere in the country without disturbing the entitlements due to their family members residing in their native places. The Central government, in May last year, made the ONORC’s implementation a condition to be fulfilled by the States for making use of the additional borrowing of 0.25% of GSDP.

The Tamil Nadu government has allowed families migrating to the State to receive their entitlements at prices determined by the Centre at the fair price shops concerned.

Several reasons are cited for the poor response to the scheme. A senior official of the State Civil Supplies Department says inter-State migrant workers prefer obtaining fresh ration cards from the State Department to getting their original cards transferred to Tamil Nadu. This is because of better benefits being provided by the Tamil Nadu government when compared to their home States.

In Tamil Nadu, edible oil and tur dal are being supplied to ration cardholders, along with rice or wheat and sugar. But under the ONORC scheme, only rice or wheat and sugar are covered. While 5 kg rice or wheat per month per person, at ₹2 per kg for wheat or ₹3 per kg for rice, would be given only to those holding priority household (PHH) cards, Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cardholders, representing the “poorest of the poor”, would also get sugar at the price stipulated by the Central government, apart from rice or wheat.

The official explains that the authorities also cannot refuse to issue ration cards to the migrant workers who, using their Aadhaar numbers, first get cooking gas cylinder connections in the State. One of the requisites to obtain a ration card is that the applicant must have a cooking gas cylinder connection, the official says, adding that the card is issued before an inspection of the place of stay of the applicant by the department’s staff.

The unwillingness of migrants to make use of the scheme and procedural hassles are also cited as reasons for the perceptibly low number of transactions.

Notwithstanding the situation, the Department is making efforts to sensitise the migrants on the benefits of the scheme, the official adds.