One Nation One Ration: Kerala's ration share to be reduced, objection addressed to Centre

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the introduction of one nation one ration card scheme, the state's ration share will be reduced. Share will be determined based on the latest census. It is estimated that the poor category has decreased in the country. The share will be reduced proportionately. It will also reflect in Kerala. Kerala gets 14.25 lakh tonnes of rice annually.

Although agreeing to the plan, Kerala has expressed its opposition to reducing the rice ration. The central decision is to be implemented in three years. With that, everyone who has linked Aadhaar with the ration card can buy ration from anywhere in the country. Kerala had completed Aadhaar linking.

There will also be a change in the distribution of priority category yellow and pink cards. The Centre will also have the power to sanction them and dispose of the applications. In this scheme called Smart PDS, information of card members and ration transactions will be stored in centrally controlled cloud servers. At present Kerala is keeping them on its own.

The central food department will monitor how much ration the poor get. Continual non-buyers will be omitted. 60% of the project will be borne by the Centre and the rest by the state.

Benefit for migrant workers

The central scheme will benefit the workers from other states in Kerala. They can buy ration from any shop. According to its amount, there will be an increase in the state share.

The problem

1. Production is low in Kerala while rice consumption is high

2. It was reduced from 16 lakh tonnes to 14.25 lakh tonnes when food security scheme was implemented.

3. 98 percent of the priority card holders buy ration