Paswan asks Bihar to soon address 'gaps' in NFSA, PMGAY beneficiary list

Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday asked the Bihar government to soon address "gaps" in list of beneficiaries under both the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Anna Yojana (PMGAY) through which food relief is provided to the poor during this COVID-19 crisis.

About 14.04 lakh beneficiaries under NFSA and 6.67 lakh beneficiaries under PMGAY are not updated in the state list and submitted to the central government for foodgrains allocation, he said.

To ensure the poor does not go hungry during the lockdown, the Centre is providing free 5 kg foodgrains per person and 1 kg pulses per household for three months under PMGAY. This is over and above 5 kg foodgrains given at a cheaper rate under the NFSA through the public distribution system (PDS).

Paswan said Bihar has so far sent to the central government a list of only 8.57 crore PDS beneficiaries under the NFSA instead of an estimated 8.71 crore beneficiaries as per the Census 2011, he added.

"There is a gap of 14.04 lakh beneficiaries under the NFSA yet. We have asked the Bihar government to provide the list at the earliest," Paswan said in a statement.

The Centre is allocating PDS foodgrains to Bihar under NFSA as per the list of 8.57 crore beneficiaries provided by the state government, he said.

On March 30, about 4.28 lakh tonne of rice was allocated to the state under the PMGAY as per the existing list of beneficiaries. However, the state government on April 3 sought higher allocation of 4.32 lakh tonne of rice giving an updated list of beneficiaries of 8.64 crore, he added.

Paswan said, "There was still a gap of 6.67 lakh beneficiaries under the PMGAY."