Food security scheme benefits fail to reach needy: MC union

Municipal Corporation Employees Union, Phagwara vice-president Narinder Dutt Sharma has lauded the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) but urged the government to ensure its benefits reach all genuinely needy citizens.

In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Food Supplies, Sharma pointed out that the scheme—launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown to provide 80 crore citizens with five kilograms of wheat and one kilogram of pulses each month—has been extended until 2028.

However, he claimed that many eligible people still remain excluded from its benefits. He recommended that all citizens with incomes below the income tax threshold be included under the scheme.