SC Reiterates April 2023 Order, Directs States, UTs to Provide Ration Cards to 8 Crore Migrants
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered States and Union Territories to provide ration cards to about eight crore migrant workers registered in the eShram portal but not covered under the National Food Security Act within two months.
The top court issued the order on March 19.
The same order was issued by the apex court in April 2023. It had said, "Without a ration card a migrant/unorganised labourer or his family members may be deprived of the benefit of schemes and even benefits under the National Food Security Act.”
Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl D’Souza, representing the petitioners, had argued that there could be more than 10 crore workers left outside the protective umbrella of the Food Safety Act as the statistics were based on the 2011 census. The population would have increased since then.
Back then, the top court had said it was the duty of a welfare state to include each and every migrant worker on the ration card roll expeditiously. It had given authorities three months to implement its order, reported the Hindu.
The petitioners are activists Anjali Bhardwaj, Harsh Mander and Jagdeep Chhokar.
Out of the 28.6 crore registrants on the eShram portal, 20.63 crore are included in the ration card data, the daily said.
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