Govt to provide free food grains to poor in May, June, spend Rs 26,000 cr

5 kg per person per month to be provided to nearly 800 mn beneficiaries free of cost, says govt

The government will provide free food grains to the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana in May and June, officials said on Friday. The development comes at a time when localised lockdowns are being imposed in most parts of the country to curb the recent surge in coronavirus infections.

Officials said 5 kg free food grains per person per month would be given to around 800 million people for the two months.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to the poor, the government has decided to provide free food grains to about 800 million beneficiaries as was done during the coronavirus-induced lockdown last year, the officials said.

"To ameliorate the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, the Government of India have decided to allocate free-of-cost food grains @ 5 kg per person per month to nearly 80 Crore beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) over and above NFSA foodgrains for next two months i.e. May and June 2021," said Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution in a statement on Friday.

"Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY), around 80 Crore NFSA beneficiaries covered under both categories of NFSA, namely Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Householders (PHH), will be provided with an additional quota of free-of-cost foodgrains (rice/wheat) at a scale of 5 kg per person per month, over and above their regular monthly entitlements under NFSA," the ministry added.

PM Modi stressed that it is important that the poor have nutritional support when the country is facing a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

Food and Public Distribution secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told PTI that 800 million PDS beneficiaries will get the benefit to tide over the impact of the pandemic.

The Government of India would spend more than Rs 26,000 crore on this initiative, they said.