Trouble hits Delhi's ONORC scheme for migrants

ONORC- a Centre sponsored scheme- empowers the migrant population mostly labourers 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.

New Delhi: As the Centre and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal locked horns over the home delivery of rations in the national capital, over 11 lakh migrant workers in Delhi are prohibited from availing the ration under the ONORC scheme. The Bhartiya Janata Party accused the Delhi government of not implementing the Centre's One Nation One Ration Card scheme (ONORC).

ONORC- a Centre sponsored scheme- empowers the migrant population mostly labourers 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. Its implementation ensures the availability of ration to beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

According to Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, Sudhanshu Pandey, 55 crore beneficiaries in May and about 2.6 crore beneficiaries in June received free food grains under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY). A total of nearly 27.8 crore portability transactions have taken place all across the States/UTs since the inception of the ONORC plan in August 2019, out of which almost 19.8 crore portability transactions have been recorded during the COVID-19 period i.e., from April 2020 to May 2021.

What's the controversy

The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government on Saturday accused the Centre of putting its ambitious doorstep ration delivery scheme on hold again. The doorstep ration delivery scheme was conceived by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, but it was stalled on March 19, days before it was to be implemented across the national capital.

The Delhi government had sent the file for final approval and immediate rollout of the scheme to Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal on May 24, but he (L-G) has returned the file back, saying the scheme cannot be implemented in Delhi," the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said in an official statement.

Earlier in March, the Centre had red-flagged the scheme, stating that the nomenclature of the programme – ‘Mukhyamantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana' -- could not be used since the ration was being distributed under the existing National Food Security Act, 2013.