Government launches ‘Mera Ration’ mobile app
- Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on March 12, 2021 launched “Mera Ration” Mobile App for those ration card holders who migrate to new places in search of livelihood.
- Currently, 32 States and Union Territories are covered under One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) and the remaining four States and UTs are expected to be integrated into the scheme in the next few months.
- The One Nation One Ration Card system covers almost 69 crore National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries in the country. The scheme has proven to be of tremendous value-added service to each NFSA beneficiary during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially migrants, as it allowed them to avail the benefit of subsidised foodgrains.
- Under National Food Security Act, the centre provides highly subsidised foodgrains at Rs 1-3 per kg to over 81 crore people through public distribution system (PDS).
- The act also offers ration card portability service ‘One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC)’ in 32 states and union territories.
- The beneficiaries will be able to use the ‘Mera Ration’ app to identify the nearest fair price shop and check details of their entitlement and recent transactions.
- The android-based mobile application has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
- It is currently available in Hindi and English language. Gradually, it will be made available in 14 languages. The languages will be identified based on places where migrant people move mostly to.
- The migrant beneficiaries will be able to register their migration details through the mobile app.
- The beneficiaries can register themselves before starting their journey and the system will automatically allocate the entitled foodgrains.