New delhi sources stated that Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said already 10 states Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura are providing portability of Public Distribution System (PDS) entitlements. Paswan told reporters "By next June 30, 2020, 'one nation, one ration card' should be implemented without fail in the entire country. We have written letters to the state government to fast track the implementation of this system".
Furthermore the new mechanism will ensure no poor is deprived of PDS entitlement if that person shifts from one place to another. Perhaps the system will also help remove fake ration card holders. Further Paswan said there are 11 states, including Tamilnadu, Punjab, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, which can easily implement PDS portability within their state as Point of Sale (PoS) machines have been installed in all ration shops.
Moreover this is one of the 100 days agenda of the modi 2.0 government, and when elaborating about the new system, Paswan said beneficiaries are required to show their Aadhaar card to buy food grains from any ration shop in the country. Hence so far, Aadhaar cards of about 89% of beneficiaries have been linked with the system, while 77% of ration shops have installed PoS machines, and as many as 22 states have 100 per cent PoS coverage and there is no problem in implementing the new system. delhi had rolled out portability of PDS entitlement a year back but later stopped.
