Kerala is among the nine States that have successfully completed reforms in the Public Distribution System (PDS) and have rolled out the One Nation, One Ration Card system, thereby qualifying to borrow ₹2,261 crore from the Centre’s reform-linked borrowing of ₹23,523 crore.
The initiative ensures that beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and other welfare schemes, especially migrant workers and their families, get ration from any fair price shop (FPS) across the country. The reforms also aim to better target beneficiaries and eliminate bogus, duplicate, and ineligible ration cards, thus enhance welfare and reduce leakage. For this, the reform conditions stipulated Aadhaar seeding of all ration cards, biometric authentication of beneficiaries, and automation of all fair price shops.
The ₹2,261 crore is part of the additional borrowing permission of 2% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) granted in 2020-21 and 0.25% is linked to implementation of the One Nation, One Ration Card system. The additional borrowing of 2% of the GSDP has enabled the States to mobilise financial resources to fight the pandemic and maintain standards of service delivery.
Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh are the other States to benefit from the additional borrowing permission of ₹23,523 crore cleared by the Union Finance Ministry on Wednesday. Uttar Pradesh has got the highest of ₹4,851 crore and Tripura the lowest of ₹148 crore. The Union Department of Food and Public Distribution is the nodal department to certify that a State has met the conditions stipulated for this reform.
In addition to the One Nation, One Ration Card system, other reforms specified as a precondition for the States to avail themselves of additional borrowing are ease of doing business reform, urban local body/utility reforms, and power sector reforms.
