Those without ration card find it hard to access Centre's free grain scheme

Though almost 83 per cent of ration card holders have received free grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGAY) during the three months of lockdown, just one in four non-ration card holders in rural India got any kind of food support from the government, a recent survey showed.

The survey, conducted between May 30 and July 16, also found widespread intra-state disparity in distribution of free rations, with some states faring much better than others.

The"nationwide" survey of rural India was done by media platform Gaon Connection, along with the Lokniti-CSDS.

A total of 25,371 respondents were