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The Supreme Court (SC) on March 19 directed all states and Union Territories (UT) to ensure that ration cards are issued to 80 million migrant and unorganised workers within the next two months.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah was hearing a petition in the case ‘Re Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers’.
It took serious note of what it termed as the Centre and states’ failure to comply with its direction of April 20, 2023.
The apex court had then ordered governments to issue ration cards to 80 million persons under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013. These peoples are registered on the eShram portal but do not possess the cards.
The court noted that unnecessary delays were being caused by putting in impediments such as requiring eKYC of all 800 million ration cardholders to be updated before the direction could be compiled with.
The bench noted that the exercise of matching eShram registrants with NFSA beneficiaries had already been undertaken and on that basis, it had been found that nearly 80 million people do not possess ration cards. Hence, they are not able to avail the benefit of monthly foodgrains under the Act.
It directed that any exercise of eKYC the Centre may want to undertake, can happen contemporaneously. That must not come in the way of issuance of ration cards.
The SC further directed that the ration cards must be issued irrespective of the quotas defined in section 3 of the NFSA.
It was pointed out on behalf of the petitioners that the coverage of persons getting rations under the NFSA is to be determined on the basis of the latest census.
As the census of 2021 has not been undertaken, the coverage continues to be on the basis of the 2011 census even though population has increased - thereby leading to exclusion of more than 100 million people from the purview of the food security net.
As the coverage has not been increased, most states have exhausted their quotas of ration card beneficiaries under the NFSA. They are thus unable to issue new cards.
The court ordered that states/UTs shall issue ration cards to the additional 80 million people and not be bound by the quotas defined in the NFSA.
Counsels Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl D’Souza represented the petitioners in the matter.
“It is a welcome step. It should have been carried out before,” Umi Daniel, director (Migration & education), Aide et Action, told Down To Earth (DTE).
Daniel noted that neither the One Nation, One Ration Card scheme nor the eShram portal had been able to mitigate the problems of migrant workers.
“They are excluded and are unable to claim food grains. Many migrant workers are also not able to vote. The eShram portal has failed to capture segregated data about migrant workers. One Nation, One Ration Card has also not helped. It is high time they have some kind of identity such as a database,” Daniel added.