The Government of India will reportedly implement ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ from June 1, 2020.A pilot run linked Andhra Pradesh-Telangana and Maharashtra- Gujarat.The scheme will let ration card holders buy food grain anywhere in the country.Ration cards are usually issued by states, under the National Food Security Act. Beneficiaries now has access to ration shop in issuing states alone. Women shifting to different states post-marriage and migrant workers are affected by this. Some 4.1 crore workers migrate out of their states seasonally for work (2011 census). By January 2020, 11 states will form a public distribution grid. The central scheme will integrate all state public distribution systems to a central repository of beneficiaries’ details. The challenges: To update beneficiary data when a person migrates for a shorter span. Electronic point-of-sale machines are there in 77% ration shops. Very few of them are in high-migration states like West Bengal and Bihar. Bihar has only installed ePoS devices only at 62 of its 41,483 ration shops and WB, only have 366 ration shops out of the total 20806, which installed ePoS machines, Says the food ministry in Lok Sabha.
