'Mera Ration' app for convenience of migrant workers
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New Delhi, Mar 13: Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, launched the 'Mera Ration' mobile app, on Mar 12, that is expected to benefit especially those ration card holders who move to new areas for livelihoods. While the Secretary was addressing media regarding the developments in 'One Nation One Ration Card' (ONORC) plan, he also launched the 'Mera Ration' app.
With the help of the app, the beneficiaries can easily check details of food grain entitlement, recent transactions and the status of their Aadhaar seeding. The migrant beneficiaries can also register their migration details with the help of the application. Beneficiaries can also enter their suggestions or feedback regarding the app and the ONORC scheme. THe implementation of the One Nation-One Ration Card system ensures availability of ration to beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other welfare schemes, especially the migrant workers and their families, at any fair price shop (FPS) across the country.
Pandey said that the system which was started initially in merely four states in Aug 2019, has been swiftly rolled out in a very short span of time in 32 states and UTs by Dec 2020 and the integration of remaining 4 states and UTs of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and West Bengal, is expected to be completed in next few months. Pandey informed that at present, the system covers nearly 69 Crore NFSA beneficiaries, that is about 86 per cent NFSA population in the country and a monthly average of about 1.5 to 1.6 Crore portability transactions are being recorded under ONORC scheme.
The ONORC has proved to be a tremendous value-added service to each NFSA beneficiary, during the COVID 19 pandemic, particularly migrants, which allowed them to avail the benefit of subsidized food grains with flexibility from any location wherever they were during the 'lockdown' crisis period. The freedom of choosing any FPS was not available earlier. During the period from Apr 2020 to Feb 2021, a total of about 15.4 Crore portability transactions have been recorded under ONORC.