Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced One Nation One Ration Card scheme among measures to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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Through the One Nation One Ration Card scheme beneficiaries would be able to avail subsidised ration from the government’s public distribution system (PDS) anywhere in the country.

“This scheme will enable a migrant beneficiary to access public distribution system from any fair price shop in the country (intra-state portability introduced in 20 states),” Sitharaman said.

She added that 67 seven crore beneficiaries in 23 states, covering 83 percent of PDS population will be covered by national portability by August 2020, while 100 percent portability will be achieved by March 2021.

All the states and union territories will complete full FPS automation by March 2021.

In the current ration card system, the migrant labourers are unable to access food away from their home states.

The finance minister said that the scheme is “part of the PM’s technology-driven system reforms.”

Sitharaman’s press conference came a day after she announced a series of measures to revive industry amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the consequent nationwide lockdown.

Her briefings are meant to demarcate resource allocation from the Rs 20 lakh crore relief package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.