One Ration Card shifts power to Indian households
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In India, 60 percent of people rely on fair-price shops (FPS) to obtain subsidized grains each month. Until 2019, people could only use their ration cards at shops tied to their registered address, creating hardship for seasonal workers who move for employment.
The One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme, launched in 2019, aimed to address this by allowing people to use their cards at any shop across the country with Aadhaar authentication, and to split their grain entitlement between locations. Researchers studying data from Bihar, a state with many migrant workers, found that ONORC is primarily benefiting people by increasing their choices and bargaining power with shop owners, rather than mainly serving long-distance migrants.
Data from April 2022 shows 62 percent of transactions in Bihar occurred at the cardholder’s original, assigned shop, while 55 percent happened at a different shop in the same local area. Before ONORC, shop owners had a monopoly over customers, leaving households vulnerable to unfair practices. Now, cardholders can switch shops if they are dissatisfied with the price, quantity, or quality of the grain, incentivizing dealers to improve service.
While the option to split grain allotments between locations exists, it is currently used less often, possibly due to a lack of awareness or incentives.
