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What is the News?
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution launched the ‘Mera Ration’ mobile app.
About Mera Ration Mobile app:
- Mera Ration Mobile app will facilitate the ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ system. It aims to help those ration cardholders who move to new areas for livelihoods.
- Developed by: Government of India in association with National Informatics Center(NIC).
- Key Features of the app: The application allows beneficiaries to:
- Find out the nearest fair price shop available according to the location.
- Users can check details of a) Recent transactions b) Status of the Aadhaar seeding and c) entitlement of the amount of rations available to them.
- Migrant beneficiaries can also register their migration details through the application. There is also an option for beneficiaries to enter suggestions/feedback.
- Languages: Presently users get English and Hindi as preferred languages for operating the app. However, the government plans to make the app available to users in 14 different languages.
About One Nation-One Ration Card(ONORC) System:
- Ministry: Department of Food & Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
- Objective: The system envisages inter-state portability of ration cards under National Food Security Act, 2013(NFSA).
- Features: Under this, NFSA beneficiaries particularly migrant beneficiaries can claim food-grains from any Fair Price Shop(FPS) in the country through existing ration cards with biometric/Aadhaar authentication in a seamless manner.
- The system also allows their family members back home to claim the balance of food-grains on the same ration card.
- States covered under this system: At present 32 States/UTs are covered under ONORC and integration of the remaining 4 States/UTs is expected to be completed in the next few months.
Source: PIB