Centre considers free grain and more items for food welfare schemes

The central government might decide to both provide free food in certain welfare schemes like the mid-day meal for children, the Annapurna Yojana for aged poor, pregnant women and destitute people, and to also expand what is given to include eggs, milk, pulses and fortified nutritious food.

For the 25 million beneficiaries of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), 'poorest of the poor', the plan is to provide wheat or rice free of cost. Presently, AAY beneficiaries get 35 kg of wheat or rice at Rs 3 a kg for rice and Rs 2 a kg for wheat.

Officials said both proposals are at an exploratory stage because of the high cost involved. If it goes ahead, this would be implemented as a separate scheme, perhaps named after a prominent freedom fighter.

Grain for welfare programmes like the mid-day meal or Annapurna Yojana are provided by the ministry of food and monitored by different ministries and departments. In 2015-16, the Centre says it allocated 4.12 million tonnes of grain for these.

It incurs an annual subsidy of Rs 2,800 crore in this regard

Presently, grain for most of these, which is apart from the Targeted Public Distribution (TPDS) programme in which wheat and rice is sold through ration shops, is allocated to most states at Minimum Support Programme rates or at the existing TPDS rate for Below Poverty Line families.

The 2016-17 Budget estimates the economic cost of rice for the Centre ar Rs 33 a kg. For wheat, Rs 24 a kg. The Centre bears over 90 per cent of the subsidy on these items for selling at Rs 3 and Rs 2, respectively, but states waive this amount and provide the grains for free to the poorest.

“To ensure that no one else wrongly takes credit for the burden borne by us, we are contemplating selling the grains for free,” a senior food ministry official said.