The Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution, Shri Sudhanshu Pandey held a detailed review meeting with the State Food Secretaries and other concerned officers of 24 States/UTs through Video Conferencing here today. In the meeting Shri Pandey discussed the lifting and distribution status of food grains to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) for the months of April and May 2020 as well as the distribution of food grains under normal NFSA/TPDS for ensured availability of adequate food grains to all NFSA beneficiaries during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Besides these, discussions were also held with States/UTs on the implementation of One Nation One Ration Card plan by the States/UT where the facility is operational and the strategy & plan for adopting the same by other States/UTs including awareness generation thereof.
The VC meetings were held with 24 States/UTs of Bihar, DNH and Daman & Diu, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY)
During the ongoing crisis owing to Covid-19 Pandemic, one of the most important initiatives of Union Government is the announcement of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) providing free food grains to the affected population. The salient features of the scheme are:
- Government of India would not allow anybody, especially any poor family, to suffer on account of non-availability of food grains due to disruption in the three months.
- 80 crore individuals, i.e, roughly two-thirds of India’s population would be covered under this scheme.
- Each one of them would be provided double of their current entitlement over next three months.
- This additionality would be free of cost.
Under the scheme, about 120 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) food grains are being distributed to the vulnerable sections of society across the country affected by the pandemic. Government has ensured that all priority households (PHH) under NFSA gets double their usual allocation during three months of April, May and June 2020 along with each Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiary getting an extra 5 Kg/month than their normal quota of 35 Kg per card per month. There has been enthusiastic response from the state governments against this scheme and a quantity of 69.28 LMT has already been lifted upto 06.05.2020
Government is incurring an expenditure of about Rs. 46,000 crores covering the cost of food grains, costs of its procurement, storage & transportation as well as distribution up to the point of delivery to the intended beneficiaries at the fair price shop (FPS). Total cost of operations starting from cost of the grain paid to the farmer up to payment of commission to FPS shop owners is borne by Govt. of India at the rate of about Rs 39 per kg for rice and about Rs. 28 per kg for wheat. This entire food support scheme is implemented by government of India without any financial burden on the State Governments.
Status of lifting by stated under PMGKAY
Though overall lifting has been encouraging, there are variations among the states in pattern of lifting under the scheme. Summary of lifting position is as under:
No. of states who completed lifting for all 3 months : 05
No. of states completed lifting 2 month’s quota : 18
No. of states completed lifting 1 month quota : 14
The state wise trend of lifting of food grains under PMGKAY is as below:
- States/UTs who completed lifting
Every support is being extended to the states by Food Corporation of India (FCI) for completing the lifting of stocks in the earliest.
