New Delhi: The Union Cabinet today extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY – Phase VII) for a further period of 3 months – from October to December 2022 – “so that poor and vulnerable sections of society are supported for the forthcoming major festivals like Navratri, Dussehra, Milad-un-nabi, Deepawali, Chhath pooja, Gurunanak dev Jayanti, Christmas”.
A Cabinet note stated that at a time when the world is battling with the effects of Covid on its decline and insecurity due to various reasons, India has been successfully maintaining food security for its vulnerable sections while taking necessary steps to keep availability and affordability for a common man.
Under this welfare scheme, 5 kg of food grain per person per month is provided free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) [Antodaya Anna Yojana & Priority Households] including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
The financial implication for the Government of India has been about Rs. 3.45 lakh crore up to Phase-VI of PMGKAY. With the additional expenditure of about Rs. 44,762 crores for Phase-VII of this scheme, the overall expenditure of PMGKAY will be about Rs. 3.91 lakh crore for all the phases.
The total outgo in terms of food grains for PMGKAY Phase VII is likely to be about 122 LMT. The aggregate allocation of food grain for phases I- VII is about 1121 LMT.
So far, PMGKAY has been in operation for 25 months as under
- Phase I and II ( 8 months): April’20 to Nov.’20
- Phase-III to V (11 months): May’21 to March’22
- Phase-VI ( 6 months): April’22 to Sept.’22
PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY), started during the COVID-19 crisis, has provided food security to the poor, needy and vulnerable households/beneficiaries so that they do not suffer on account of the non-availability of adequate foodgrains. Effectively it has doubled the quantity of monthly foodgrains entitlements being normally delivered to beneficiaries.
Going by the experience of earlier phases, the performance of PMGKAY-VII is expected to be on the same high level as achieved before, the cabinet note stated.
– global bihari bureau
