The Food Security Act was officially launched in Mizoram today by state Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister John Rotluangliana.
The food security scheme would be formally implemented from March 1 as the Food Corporation of India can allocate the state's quota only from next month, the minister said.
The scheme will cover 6,44,882 people out of the total state population of 11,97,111, including beneficiaries under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (83,052) and Priority Household (5,61,830), he said.
The remaining 5,97,229 people in the non-FSA category would also be able to purchase rice under the scheme at Rs 15/kg while the 25,785 AAY families would receive 35kg of rice per month at the rate of Rs 3/kg. Each PHH family member would get 5kg rice each month at Rs 3/kg.
PHH beneficiaries can also purchase an additional 3kg of rice at the rate of Rs 15/kg while the non-FSA persons can buy 8kg rice at Rs 15/kg, the minister said.
The total number of ration cards under FSA will be 1,36,873 while 1,07,638 ration cards will be issued to non-FSA persons.
At least 9,814 metric tonnes of rice would be required every month to meet the needs of the FSA beneficiaries and non-FSA persons with the AAY requirement at 902.48 metric tonnes and PHH requirement at 4,494.64 metric tonnes, the minister added.
