NEW DELHI: In a move to bring relief to the nearly 80 crore poor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) till Diwali this year, which entitles each beneficiary to 5 kg of free foodgrain every month.
This is in addition to the monthly 5 kg highly subsidised foodgrain they get under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Last month, the government announced the third phase of PMGKAY only for May and June.
Last year, the scheme was implemented from April to November.
“The government is standing with the poor for all his needs as his friend,” Modi said during his address to the nation on Monday.
Officials said under the current phase of PMGKAY, the Centre would allocate around 280 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice for seven months (May to November) and it would bear an additional expenditure of approximately Rs 90,000 crore for this.
During last year, the Centre had allocated 322.5 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to states under the first two phases of PMGKAY and incurred an additional expenditure of Rs 1.22 lakh crore.
The overall subsidy outgo for the current phase of PMGKAY will also be less as the economic cost of foodgrains available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has come down drastically because of the government increasing the budgetary allocation this year to the FCI and thereby reducing the interest burden.
Officials also said currently the FCI has nearly 900 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice stock, which is more than double of what it needs to meet demands under NFSA and other schemes.
“There is no problem with the stock and every year we are procuring more foodgrains than the previous years,” said an official.
One of the main reasons why the government announced the reintroduction of PMGKAY during the second surge of Covid is the high success of the scheme last year.
A study conducted across 88 districts in 18 states and UTs had shown that an average of 94% households had received the free ration every month.
Moreover.
about 97% of the respondents were aware of the PMGKAY distribution and their entitlements.