The centre in the suo moto Migrant Workers Case before the Hon’ble Supreme Court had held that in a total of 32 states and UTs which includes around 86% of the population covered under the National Food Security Act has now been brought under ONORC Plan by December 2020 except few states like Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, and West Bengal.
The Written Submissions clearly states that the additional food security measures during COVID-19 are made available under Phase III of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna (PMGKAY-III) through which allocation of food grains have now been made to all the States/UTs for free of cost distribution to all the AAY and PHH beneficiaries from Central Pool at 5 kg/person/month for two months, i.e. May and June 2021.
This scheme covers over 80 crore beneficiaries and is available to all States/UTs in addition to their normal TPDS allocation as per NFSA, 2013.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court on 11 June, had observed that all States should mandatorily implement the ONORC plan, which allows migrant workers to get ration benefits from any part of the country irrespective of the place where their ration card is registered and proceeded to reserve the judgement in the Suo Moto Migrant Workers case.
