Chennai: Tamil Nadu has become the 11th State in the country to successfully undertake “One Nation One Ration Card system” reform stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. Thus, the State has become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs.4,813 crore through Open Market Borrowings. Permission for the same was issued by the Department of Expenditure.
Tamil Nadu has now joined 10 other States namely, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh, who have completed this reform. On completion of One Nation One Ration Card system reform, these 11 States have been granted additional borrowing permission of Rs.30,709 crore by the Department of Expenditure. State wise amount of the additional borrowing permitted is as under:
The reform empowers the mirgatory population mostly labourers, daily wagers, urban poor like rag picker, 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.
The reform also enables the States in better targeting of beneficiaries, elimination of bogus/ duplicate/ineligible card holders resulting in enhanced welfare and reduced leakage.
