The Centre on Friday approved free foodgrain for more than 80 crore people under the National Food Security Act till December 23.
In a major development, the Centre on Friday approved National Food Security Act till December 2. The announcement in this regard was made y Union Minister Piyush Goyal after the cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Central government will spend around Rs two lakh crores per year for providing free ration to 81.35 crore poor people, said Goyal.
Notably, the decision to provide free foodgrain to poor people came days before the expiry of the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) free foodgrain scheme. This scheme is about to expire on December 31. The PM-GKAY was launched during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It had been in effect for over 28 months.
The government has decided not to extend the free PMGKAY. Under PMGKAY, five kilogram of food grains per person per month is provided free to 81.35 crore beneficiaries covered under NFSA. This is over and above the monthly distribution of highly subsidised food grains under NFSA.
At present, the government provides five kg of foodgrains per person per month at Rs two to three per kg. Meanwhile, the families covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) get 35 kg of food grains per month.
The Centre notified the NFSA on September 10, 2013. Its main objective is to provide food and nutritional security at affordable prices to poor people. The NFSA provides coverage to almost 75 per cent of the rural population and around 50 percent of urban population of the country.(ANI)
