The Uttar Pradesh Government is likely to extend the free food grain distribution scheme till May 2024 when the next Lok Sabha elections will be held.
The scheme is scheduled to end this month.
The Food and Civil Supplies department has sent the proposal to the state government and a decision is likely after the Holi festival.
The free food grain distribution scheme was first launched after the first lockdown was imposed following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in March, 2020. Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, the Centre provides five kilograms of rice or wheat free of cost to every poor person every month in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially the scheme was to be implemented till November 2021. The UP government in December 2021 extended the free food grains distribution programme to provide free food to the poor in the state to March 2022. The programme has been launched under the National Food Security Act.
During the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out a free food distribution scheme that benefitted 80 crore poor people. The scheme in UP benefitted nearly 15 crore people.
The UP government has already decided to give free LPG cylinders to the poor ahead of Holi. Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of LPG consumers among all the states in the country.
According to the Food and Civil Supplies department, the number of LPG consumers with subsidised connections in the state is over 4.27 crore. In 2014, UP had just 1.67 crore LPG consumers and this number increased to 4.26 crore in August, 2021.
The UP government even during COVID-19 pandemic provided LPG connections to the poor and the needy. Nearly 19 per cent of the total Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries in the country are from UP.