Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

Topic: Food Security

Context: 13 states distributing free grains under PMGKAY

Concept: The PMGKAY was first announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the government’s Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package under “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for the poor to help them fight the battle against coronavirus” on March 26 2020.

• Initially, the scheme was for three months — May, June and July – but later it was extended till November 2020.However, in April 2021, the government had announced its decision to restart the PMGKAY.
• The program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• The scheme aims to feed the poorest citizens of India by providing grain through the Public Distribution System, to all the priority households (ration card holders and those identified by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme).
• Under PMGKAY, around 80 Crore NFSA beneficiaries covered under both categories of National Food Security Act (NFSA), namely Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Householders (PHH), will be provided with an additional quota of free-of-cost food grains (Rice/Wheat) at a scale of 5 Kgrice or wheat (according to regional dietary preferences) per person per month, and 1 kg of dal to each family holding a ration card over and above their regular monthly entitlements under NFSA.
• Government of India will bear all expenditure of over ₹26,000 Crore on account of food subsidy and Central assistance to states/UTs on account of intrastate transportation etc.
• The scale of this welfare scheme makes it the largest food security program in the world.
• A key issue is that the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act are based on the last census (2011). The number of food-insecure people has increased since then and they remain uncovered.