Assam had finally operationalised the ration card portability service and with this, the Centre’s One Nation, One Ration Card (ONORC) programme was implemented across the country, the Food Ministry said on Tuesday.

Under ONORC, beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) can get their quota of subsidised foodgrains from any electronic point of sale device (ePoS)-enabled fair price shops of their choice by using their existing ration cards with biometric authentication. 

“Assam has become the 36^th State/Union Territory to implement ONORC. With this, the ONORC programme has been successfully implemented in all States and Union Territories, making food security portable throughout the country,” the ministry said in a statement. 

The implementation of ONORC was initiated in August 2019. 

According to the ministry, ration card portability has significantly contributed in ensuring subsidised foodgrains to NFSA beneficiaries, especially migrant beneficiaries, during the last two years of COVID-19 pandemic. 

Since 2019, about 71 crore portable transactions have taken place, delivering foodgrains equivalent to about Rs 40,000 crore in food subsidy through portability. 

At present, a monthly average of about 3 crore portable transactions were being recorded, delivering the subsidised NFSA and free PMGKAY foodgrains with flexibility of any location to the beneficiaries, it said.