Over 72 crore beneficiaries under Food Security Act: Centre

The government on Friday said that more than 72.45 crore people from 14.8 crore households across 33 states and Union Territories are getting subsidised food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

"As on April 2016, 33 states and Union Territories are implementing NFSA, and subsidised food grain are being provided to 72.45 crore beneficiaries from approximately 14.8 crore households. This is a big change from only 11 states and UTs, which started implementation of NFSA by March 2014," a statement by the consumer affairs ministry said.

The ministry added that the remaining three states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland are also in an advanced stage of preparation for NFSA implementation.

"Tamil Nadu and Kerala are presently in election mode and a decision to implement NFSA will be possible only after the elections are over, while the state of Nagaland is expected to start implementation of NFSA from July 2016," the statement said.

The ministry also said that total storage capacity with Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies has been increased to 814.84 lakh metric tonnes (LMT).

"FCI has a storage capacity of 357.89 LMT while state agencies can store up to 456.95 LMT which is sufficient, as compared to the peak requirement during procurement season is around 600 LMTs," the statement added.

The government also informed that it had created new godowns to the capacity of 133.47 LMT in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode under Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) in 20 states.

--IANS

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