Despite implementation of the One Nation One Ration Card Scheme, which is a game-changer for beneficiaries, portability among migrants has been found to be low.
This is because 79 per cent of them avail PDS only at their home locations, a new study has found.
The study conducted jointly by the Council for Social Development (CSD) and German Development Bank, KFW, showed that a greater proportion of intra-state migrant families are exercising portability (42 per cent). This compares to only 16.9 per cent and 5.3 per cent among inter-state and both inter and intra-state migrant households respectively. The study was conducted between March 2019 and April 2022, both through secondary sources and direct field surveys.
“Portability is low among inter-state migrants as fear of losing identity is large among them,” said Nitya Nanda, director of CSD.
Field surveys were conducted on 3,488 beneficiaries of at least one of the six identified social schemes spread across Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which are key migrant source states.