The Architecture of One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC): Portability, Institutional Pathways, and Differentiated State Capacity in India’s Food Security System

Abstract:-

This paper examines the institutional architecture of India’s One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) scheme, arguing that its design choices—rather than implementation deficits—shape portability patterns and governance outcomes. Using official data, Supreme Court records, and field surveys, the analysis focuses on three dimensions: the deployment of centralized digital infrastructure (IM-PDS) that reconfigures state-level PDS relationships; eligibility determination based on frozen 2011 Census population data within a zero-sum portability framework; and the emergence of corridor-specific functionality concentrated in the Delhi-UP-Bihar axis. The paper shows how ONORC’s platform architecture produces efficient transaction monitoring and inter-state grain flow tracking while systematically constraining access through fixed national quotas and differentiated state capacity. It further demonstrates that portability functions along specific migration corridors while remaining negligible in major migrant-receiving states with robust PDS systems. The findings contribute to debates on federalism, digital welfare platforms, and the political economy of food security in India.

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