New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed all the states and union territories to implement the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme till July 31. A bench of justices Ashok Bhushan and MR Shah issued a slew of directions on a plea of three activists seeking directions to the Centre and the states to ensure food security, cash transfers and other welfare measures for migrant workers who faced distress again due to curfews and lockdowns in various parts of the country during the second wave of COVID-19.
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The bench directed the Centre to develop a portal with the help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for registration of unorganised sector workers for granting them the benefits of welfare schemes by July 31. It also directed the states, UTs to run community kitchens for migrant workers till the pandemic situation continues in respective states. It asked the Centre to keep allocating food grains to the states, UTs for distribution among migrant workers for free till the pandemic situation exists.
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The top court's order came on an application by activists Harsh Mander, Anjali Bhardwaj and Jagdeep Chhokar, through advocate Prashant Bhushan seeking directions to ensure that migrant workers are not deprived of ration and food security.
