Centre makes ration free for 1 year; to benefit 81.35 crore poor

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• Dec 24, 2022 | Dhupali Das

In a major pro-poor action, the Union Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to provide foodgrains for...

Digital Desk: The Centre announced on Friday that it will provide free food grains to 81.35 crore people for a year under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

In a major pro-poor action, the Union Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to provide foodgrains to the underprivileged for free for one year, until December 2023, under the NFSA. The move will benefit 81.35 crore people and would cost the government around Rs 2 lakh crore, Food Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

Under the NFSA Act, foodgrains are allocated at 5 kg per person per month for the priority households category and at 35 kg per family per month for Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) families at highly subsidized prices of Rs 1, Rs 2, and Rs 3 per kg for coarse cereals, wheat, and rice, respectively.

Meanwhile, the government has decided not to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) free ration scheme, which ends on December 31.

Prime Minister Modi launched the PMGKAY in April 2020 to help the poor during the Covid-19 pandemic. Goyal stated that the government had distributed free food grain (5 kilograms per person per month) for 28 months under the PMGKAY.

Goyal also stated that the additional foodgrain under the PMGKAY, which was launched during COVID in response to poor people's financial stress, is no longer required.

"Financial conditions have now returned to normal. Still, in order to help the poor, the government has made food grains available at no cost through the NFSA," the food minister stated.

In July 2013, the Center passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA), granting 67% of the population (with 75% of people living in rural areas and 50% in urban areas) the legal right to obtain highly subsidized food grains.