Government in process of integrating e-Shram portal with One Nation One Ration Card scheme

Context

Recently, the Union Minister for Labour & Employment said that the e-Shram portal is being integrated with the One Nation One Ration Card scheme.

About E-Shram

• The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) launched the E-Shram in 2021.
• The web portal for creating a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW), which will be seeded with Aadhaar.
• The portal came into being after the Supreme Court directed the Government to complete the registration process of unorganised workers.
• The government aims to register 38 crore unorganised workers, such as construction labourers, migrant workforce, street vendors and domestic workers, among others.
• The target group for the registration process is those aged between 16 and 59.
• A worker can register on the portal using his/her Aadhaar card number and bank account details, apart from filling other necessary details like date of birth, home town, mobile number and social category. 
• The registrations can be done through Common Service Centres (CSC), Self, or through State Seva Kendras.

About One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) Scheme

• The ONORC scheme is aimed at enabling migrant workers and their family members to buy subsidized ration from any fair price shop anywhere in the country under the National Food Security Act, 2013.
• For instance, a migrant worker will be able to access PDS benefits elsewhere in India, where he or she may have gone in search of work.
• While the person can buy food grains as per his or her entitlement under the NFSA at the place where he or she is based, members of his or her family can still go to their ration dealer back home.
• To promote this reform in the archaic Public Distribution System (PDS), the government has provided incentives to states.

About the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013

• It was enacted in July, 2013 which gives legal entitlement to 67% of the population(75% in rural areas and 50% in urban areas) to receive highly subsidized foodgrains.
• Under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), foodgrain is sold at highly subsidized prices of Rs. 1/-, Rs. 2/- and Rs. 3/- per kg for nutri-cereals, wheat and rice respectively.
• Under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Act, the term “eligible households”comprises two categories
• Priority household category is entitled to 5 kg per person per month.
• Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families are entitled to 35 kg per family per month.
• Coverage under the Act is based on the population figures of Census, 2011. The Act is now being implemented in all 36 States/UTs and covers about 81.35 crore persons.
• This overall figure has been divided among the states and Union Territories, based on the NSSO Household Consumer Expenditure Survey 2011-12.
• The Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution is the nodal ministry for implementing this Act.