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Examining the Effectiveness of the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ Scheme
This article studies the “One Nation, One Ration Card” scheme highlighting its ground-level ineffectiveness among the migrant workers. The possible reasons responsible for the ineffectiveness of the scheme are discussed with a special focus on the soft factors, that is, the mindset of the targeted group. It also details some recommendation measures that policymakers should adopt to improve last-mile delivery and make this scheme more effective.
The new scheme of the Government of India named “One Nation, One Ration Card” (ONORC) is supposed to be the solution to the challenges faced by not only migrant workers, but it also aims to curb corruption and allow portability of food security benefits. That means a ration cardholder from Bihar can buy their stock from any of the ration shops in their state and the destination state as well. This has been made possible by a single digital card linked to the beneficiary’s Aadhaar card and enabling electronic point of sale (E-POS) for biometric authentications at the ration shops. The scheme will give significant relief for the migrant labourers, urban poor and the daily wagers.
However, the challenges need to be overcome. Most of the migrants are not educated and have little to no financial literacy, due to which they do not trust any of the digital platforms.
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