Govt makes foodgrain free of cost for 81.35 crore people for 1 year under NFSA
New Delhi, December 23
In a major decision, the union government has decided to provide free ration to 81.35 crore poor people under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for one year.
It, however, also decided not to extend Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) from January 1, 2023, which was specially designed to support the poor amid COVID-19 pandemic.
Briefing media on the decisions of the Union Cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister for Consumers Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Piyush Goyal, said beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA), who were getting food grains at highly subsidised rates, would get free foodgrains until December 2023.
Terming the decision as a “new year gift for the country’s poor”, the Minister said over 80 crore people in the country, around two third of the population, will be benefitted from the decision. “From January onward the beneficiaries of the NFSA, who were getting rice at Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg, will not have to pay a single penny to get foodgrains for the next one year,” he stated.
Under the NFSA, people get 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month while the poor families covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) get 35 kg of foodgrains per month.
Goyal said, “The Centre will bear the entire cost of providing free foodgrains under NFSA and the annual burden to the exchequer is estimated to be at Rs 2 lakh crore per year and the budget will have provisioning for it.”
Meanwhile, the Minister also informed that PM-GKAY, which was started to help poor to battle Covid-19 in April 2020, would be discontinued from January 1, 2023. The scheme was recently extended until December 2022.
