SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 18 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Read the below statements marked as Assertion (A) and Reason (R). Mark the correct options: Assertion (A) : The One Nation One Ration Card ensures portability of food grains. Reason (R) : It uses Aadhaar-enabled biometric authentication.

(a)Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A
(b)Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A
(c)A is true, but R is false
(d)A is false, but R is true

Answer

Why

Correct — A. A is true: One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) lets a beneficiary under the National Food Security Act lift foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop in the country, on the existing ration card.

R is true: the beneficiary proves identity by Aadhaar-based biometric authentication on an ePoS device at the shop.

R explains A: that authentication is how a shop in another State verifies a card it did not issue.

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A — Treats the two statements as unrelated. The government's own description has portability working through biometric authentication on an ePoS device, so R is the mechanism behind A.
(c)
A is true, but R is false — R is not false. At the Fair Price Shop the beneficiary quotes the ration card or seeded Aadhaar number and authenticates biometrically on an ePoS device.
(d)
A is false, but R is true — A is not false. Portability is ONORC's purpose: a migrant can lift full or part entitlement at any ePoS-enabled Fair Price Shop, and family at home can lift the balance.

Concept

One Nation One Ration Card is the Department of Food and Public Distribution's scheme for nationwide portability of ration cards under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

It was launched on 9 August 2019 and now runs in all 36 States and Union Territories, with Assam the last to implement it.

A beneficiary walks into any ePoS-enabled Fair Price Shop, quotes the ration card or seeded Aadhaar number and authenticates biometrically. Family members back home can lift the rest of the quota on the same card.

Key facts

ONORC was launched on 9 August 2019 for intra-State and inter-State portability of ration cards under the NFSA, 2013.
It runs in all 36 States and Union Territories, with Assam the last to implement it.
Beneficiaries authenticate with biometrics on an electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) device at the Fair Price Shop.
A migrant can lift full or part entitlement, and family members back home can lift the balance on the same card.

Study next

National Food Security Act, 2013 and its coverage of up to 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban populationPradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and its use of ONORCComputerisation of the Targeted Public Distribution System

Common traps

Choosing (b) because Aadhaar and portability sound like separate features — here the authentication is how portability works.
Thinking portability means getting a new card in the destination State, when the existing card works as it is.

In an Assertion-Reason item, a true R is not enough: ask whether R is the mechanism that makes A happen. Here it is, which separates (a) from (b).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 171 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.