The BJP-led Centre has extended free ration scheme for the 80 crore poor for the next five years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement at a rally in Chhattisgarh on Saturday. According to government officials, this move will incur an expenditure of approximately Rs 2 lakh crore. 

Currently, beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) pay a nominal fee of Rs 1-3 per kg for food grain. According to the Act, 5 kg of foodgrain is allocated per person each month for priority households and 35 kg per family each month for Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) families at highly subsidised prices of Re 1, Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg for coarse cereals, wheat and rice respectively. However, in 2023, the government will offer complimentary ration to the scheme’s beneficiaries. This decision comes just before the conclusion of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) on December 31, 2022. 

PMGKAY was introduced during the COVID pandemic in 2020, under which the government supplied 5 kg of foodgrain free of charge to individuals within the NFSA quota. 

The Centre has now amalgamated the PMGKAY scheme with the NFSA. 

Government officials have described this recent Cabinet decision as a “New Year gift for the nation’s underprivileged”, stating that over 81.35 crore people will now receive complimentary foodgrains under the NFSA. 

The beneficiaries will not be required to make any payment to obtain foodgrains, they have added. 

The Centre had introduced the NFSA in July 2013, bestowing a legal entitlement upon 67 per cent of the population (75 per cent in rural areas and 50 per cent in urban areas) to receive substantially subsidised foodgrain. 

The coverage under this Act is founded on the population figures from the 2011 Census. The NFSA is currently in operation in all 36 States and Union Territories, covering roughly 81.35 crore individuals. 

Recently, Minister for Food Piyush Goyal informed the Parliament that under the PMGKAY, the government has allocated an aggregate of nearly 1,118 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to the States and Union Territories (total allocation from phases I to VII). 

The overall sanctioned budget for food subsidies and Central assistance for all phases, from I to VII, amounts to about Rs 3.91 lakh crore, he had mentioned.