 "Centre extends PMGKAY free ration scheme for another five years till 2029")
The Centre has decided to extend the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY) to provide food grains free of cost to over 800 million Indians for five more years, Union minister Anurag Thakur announced on Wednesday.
At a cabinet briefing, Thakur said the extension will cost the exchequer Rs 11.8 trillion. The extension will be applicable from January 1, 2024. A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the food ministry announced the extension of the PMGKAY scheme for one year starting January 1, 2023.
In December last year, the Centre decided to subsume the PMGKAY, launched in 2020 to provide additional food grains free of cost, with the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Under the NFSA, up to 75 per cent of the rural and 50 per cent of the urban populations are covered under two categories -- Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and priority households.
While AAY households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, are entitled to 35 kg of foodgrains per family per month, priority households get 5 kg per person per month.
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"The Central Government fully bears the food subsidy for procuring, allocating, transporting and delivering the foodgrains to the designated depot in the States with the help of the two food subsidy schemes, namely, Food Subsidy to FCI and Food Subsidy to Decentralized Procurement (DCP) States," the ministry had then said.
These two food subsidy schemes have been subsumed as PMGKAY for effective and uniform implementation of the NFSA and to strengthen the country's food security network.
"Under this scheme, free foodgrains are being distributed through Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) from January 1 2023. The additional cost of making food grains free of cost to the NFSA beneficiaries is being borne by the Government of India," the statement said.