Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court's direction to States and Union Territories to implement the 'One Nation One Ration Card' mandatory across India by July 31.
Taking to Twitter, he said this will ensure nationwide food security and help the migrants, poor and vulnerable seamless access to free food grains amid these difficult times.
"Welcome Hon'ble Supreme Court's decision of making One Nation One Ration Card mandatory across India by July 31st. This will ensure nationwide food security and help the migrants, poor and vulnerable seamless access to free food grains amid these difficult times," Pradhan tweeted.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court directed that by July 31, 2021, all states and Union Territories must implement the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme that allows migrant labourers to get ration benefits from any part of the country, irrespective of the place where their ration card is registered.
"Its implementation ensures availability of ration to beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other welfare schemes, especially to the migrant workers and their families at any Fair Price Shop across the country," the Bench said.
"We, thus, are of the view that those States who have not yet implemented One Nation One Ration Card scheme should implement the same. We direct the States who have not implemented the One Nation One Ration Card scheme to implement the scheme by not later than July 31, 2021," read the order by a Bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice MR Shah.
One Nation One Ration Card System is an important citizen-centric reform. Its implementation ensures the 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 across the country.
The Ministry of Finance had earlier said that the reform especially empowers the migratory population mostly labourers, daily wagers, urban poor like rag pickers, street dwellers, temporary workers in organised and unorganised sectors, domestic workers etc, who frequently change their place of dwelling to be self-reliant in food security.
This technology-driven reform enables the migrant beneficiaries to get their entitled quota of food grains from any electronic point of sale (e-PoS) enabled fair Price Shops of their choice anywhere in the country, it said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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