PMGKAY to go on for another 6 months until Sept; cost Govt Rs 80k cr: Goyal
The Centre on Saturday extended the free foodgrain programme 'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY),' for six months till September this year to provide relief to the poor. A decision in this regard was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to experts, the free foodgrain scheme meant for the poor was a trump card for the Modi Government in the recently-concluded Assembly polls in five States, especially in Uttar Pradesh.
Announcing the decision, Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted that the Government has extended the scheme till September 2022. The extension of the scheme despite the end of the Covid-19 pandemic shows the Modi Government's sensitivity towards the poor, he tweeted.
Under the PMGKAY programme, which has been running since March 2020, the Government will distribute 1,003 lakh tonnes of foodgrain at a cost of Rs 3.4 lakh crore to the exchequer.
Applauding the Centre for launching the PMGKAY, a Parliamentary Standing Committee report on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, tabled in the Lok Sabha last week, asked the Food Ministry to make an "objective assessment" and find out to what extent the scheme has helped beneficiaries and for how long it needs to be continued. The committee said the Ministry had "not carried out or proposed a study or an objective assessment" of the foodgrains scheme launched in 2020 as the Government's economic response to the Covid pandemic.
In March 2020, the Centre had launched PMGKAY, to provide free foodgrain 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 foodgrain per month for free under this scheme.
The additional free grain is over and above the normal quota provided under the NFSA at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2-3 per kg.