Livelihoods: Tamil Nadu is witnessing a poor response to the One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme as compared to other states. Negligible transactions have been recorded and an insignificant quantity of food grains (rice or wheat) have been distributed through the Public Distribution System (PDS).
The ONORC initiative is aimed at achieving ‘seamless intra-state and inter-state portability’ of ration cards. The key feature of this scheme is that migrant workers can claim their quota of ration from anywhere in the country, without disrupting their families’ entitlements in their home states.
According to a senior official of the State Civil Supplies Department, the reason for the poor response to this scheme in Tamil Nadu is that the migrant workers prefer to obtain fresh ration cards from the state instead of having their original cards transferred. Better benefits provided by the state government compared to the migrants’ home states are a key factor for their preference. People in Tamil Nadu receive edible oil and tur dal (pulses) along with the stipulated rice or wheat, and sugar. Compared to this, under the ONORC scheme, a ration card holder is only entitled to rice or wheat and sugar.
In May 2020, the central government made the implementation of the scheme a necessary condition if states wanted to borrow funds to the tune of an additional 0.25 percent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) from the Centre.
Read this article to understand why there is a need to reinforce social welfare schemes to withstand crisis.