New Delhi: The Center on Friday launched a common registration facility in 11 states and union territories to enable homeless people, destitute, migrants and other eligible beneficiaries to apply for ration cards. The National Food Security Act (NFSA) provides maximum coverage for about 81.35 crore persons. At present, about 79.77 crore people are given highly subsidized food grains under the Act. So, 1.58 crore more beneficiaries can be added.
Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said that the ‘Common Registration Facility’ (My Ration-My Right) has been launched on Friday with the objective of helping states and UTs to quickly identify eligible beneficiaries and issue ration cards to such people. so that they can avail their legal benefits. Eligibility under NFSA (Also Read: Enforcement Directorate Freezes Bank Deposits Of Over Rs 64 Crore Of Crypto Exchange WazirX)
The Secretary also informed that in the last 7-8 years, around 4.7 crore ration cards belonging to an estimated 18-19 crore beneficiaries have been canceled due to various reasons. New cards are also issued by the States and Union Territories to the eligible beneficiaries on a regular basis. (Also read: Markets bounce back after a day’s relief after RBI’s policy)
Initially, the new web-based facility will be available on a pilot basis in 11 states and union territories. By the end of this month, all 36 states and union territories will be covered on this platform.
The 11 states and union territories are Assam, Goa, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
“The objective is that many homeless poor are not issued ration cards as they move from one place to another for their livelihood,” the secretary said.
“At their present place of residence, they are not issued a ration card because they are not residents of that place and they have come from somewhere else. At the place of origin, they do not get a ration card because they are not living there. It’s a very difficult dilemma for them,” Pandey said.
According to him, domestic servants and anyone working in a shop-establishment can take help from anyone who can actually fill in their data and apply for a ration card.
Once the data is fed into the system, it will be shared with the respective states and union territories for the purpose of verification.
“It is basically further empowering those whose voices may not be heard otherwise, which is due to them legally,” the secretary said.
The Common Registration Facility is an initiative to collect data of persons wishing to register to join under NFSA while residing anywhere in the country.
This facility will help the States/UTs to identify and include eligible beneficiaries under the coverage of NFSA as per the established inclusion and exclusion norms.
All the 36 States/Union Territories have been linked under the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme.
Pandey said that once these homeless, destitute, migrant and other eligible beneficiaries get their ration cards, they can entitle them to food grains from any ration shop in the card under the ONORC programme. At present, 14 states and union territories have covered all eligible beneficiaries under NFSA in their respective areas.