New Delhi, 09 February 2022: The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that under the technology driven One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) plan, as such there is no need to physically port the ration card from one State/UT to another, as the beneficiaries have choice to lift their foodgrains from any electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) device enabled Fair Price Shop (FPS) from anywhere in the country, by using their same/existing ration card issued in their home State/UT. Since inception of the ONORC plan in August 2019, a total of about 56 Crore portability transactions have been recorded in the States/UTs under ONORC up to 31st January 2022. A State/UT wise statement showing total number of portability transactions recorded under ONORC is at Annexure.

 As part of the Concurrent Evaluation of the implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA) and Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) operations through Monitoring Institutes (MIs), which are esteemed universities and institutions of national repute, the Department has conducted assessments of the implementation of the ONORC plan in States/UTs in a phased manner. Also, from the large volume of portability transactions under ONORC, it is evident that the beneficiaries are leveraging the facility of ration portability to access their NFSA as well as PM-GKAY foodgrains from any FPS of their choice, without being dependent on the tagged ration shop in the ration card. Such a flexibility was not available earlier under the traditional TPDS operations when beneficiaries had to lose their food security benefits in the event of migration or being away from their village/town or designated FPS.

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Annexure

State/UT wise statement showing total number of portability transactions recorded by States/UTs under ONORC since inception in August 2019 and upto 31st January 2022:

Sl. State/UT (as Sale State/UT) ONORC Enabled in State/UT From No. of Total Portability Transactions under ONORC
1 Andaman & Nicobar Islands Dec 2020  10,591
2 Andhra Pradesh Aug 2019  8,62,33,519
3 Arunachal Pradesh Oct 2020  1,230
4 Assam    –
5 Bihar May 2020  15,90,43,162
6 Chandigarh Nov 2020  175
7 Chhattisgarh    –
8 Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu May 2020  1,34,833
9 Delhi Jul 2021  49,09,874
10 Goa Jan 2020  26,714
11 Gujarat Aug 2019  16,30,859
12 Haryana Oct 2019  2,17,87,306
13 Himachal Pradesh May 2020  15,420
14 Jammu & Kashmir Aug 2020  5,70,861
15 Jharkhand Jan 2020  15,96,043
16 Karnataka Oct 2019  3,50,69,194
17 Kerala Oct 2019  3,37,58,683
18 Ladakh Sep 2020  169
19 Lakshadweep Sep 2020  54
20 Madhya Pradesh Jan 2020  1,61,13,402
21 Maharashtra Aug 2019  3,06,22,910
22 Manipur Aug 2020  1,519
23 Meghalaya Dec 2020  37
24 Mizoram Jun 2020  1,604
25 Nagaland Aug 2020  8,429
26 Odisha Jun 2020  28,578
27 Puducherry Nov 2020  1
28 Punjab May 2020  32,74,644
29 Rajasthan Oct 2019  6,67,66,502
30 Sikkim Jun 2020  3,222
31 Tamil Nadu Oct 2020  11,04,524
32 Telangana Aug 2019  5,16,65,402
33 Tripura Jan 2020  5,44,626
34 Uttarakhand Aug 2020  23,735
35 Uttar Pradesh May 2020  4,26,51,136
36 West Bengal Aug 2021  229
Total    55,75,99,187