Centre extends free foodgrain programme till Sept

The Centre has extended the free foodgrain programme 'PMGKAY' for six more months till September this year to provide relief to poor, Union minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday. A decision in this regard was taken in the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The extension of the scheme despite the end of the COVID-19 pandemic shows the Modi government's sensitivity towards poor, he tweeted.

मोदी सरकार ने दुनिया के सबसे बड़े खाद्य सुरक्षा कार्यक्रम के अंतर्गत ये सुनिश्चित किया है कि हर गरीब का चूल्हा जलता रहे और कोई भूखा ना रहे।

कोविड खत्म होने के बावजूद मोदी सरकार द्वारा PMGKAY को सितंबर 2022 तक बढाना उनकी गरीबों के प्रति संवेदनशीलता को दर्शाता है।#HarGharAnn pic.twitter.com/RC7sJ6YInx

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 26, 2022

Under the PMGKAY programme, which is running for the past years, the government will distribute 1,003 lakh tonnes foodgrain at a cost of Rs 3.4 lakh crore to the exchequer. The scheme was again extended from December 2021 to March 2022 (Phase-V). Under the Phases I to V, the food ministry had allocated a total of about 759 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to the States/UTs, which is equivalent to about Rs 2.6 lakh crore in food subsidy. 

In March 2020, the Centre had launched the scheme, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), to provide free foodgrains to over 80 crore beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) as part of its efforts to reduce the hardships of people during the coronavirus pandemic. The Centre provides 5 kg of foodgrains per month for free under this scheme. The additional free grains is over and above the normal quota provided under the NFSA at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2-3 per kg.