'One Nation One Ration Card' to be effective across India from June 1, 2020: Ram Vilas Paswan

Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday (December 3) announced that the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme will come into force across the country from June 1, 2020.

The scheme is aimed at providing benefits to migrant labourers and daily wagers as it will allow the eligible beneficiaries to avail their entitled food grains under the National Food Security Act from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) at subsidised rate using the same ration card.

The beneficiaries would be able to avail the entitled food grains after biometric/Aadhaar authentication on ePoS (electronic Point of Sale) devices. According to Paswan, the facility of inter-state portability under the 'One Nation One Ration Card' initiative would be available only through those FPSs which have ePoS devices.

"This system would largely benefit the numerous migrant beneficiaries such as labourers, daily wagers, blue-collar workers etc. who frequently change their place of dwelling in search of employment or for other reasons across the country," Paswan said.

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The Union Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is also working on 'One Nation One Standard' initiative with an aim to establish harmony in standardisation activity. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been ordered by Paswan's ministry to develop a roadmap for implementation of the initiative.

"Indian standards are harmonised with international standards, wherever possible. BIS has granted about 998 licences to overseas firms spread across about 51 countries for various products as per Indian standards," the minister said.