80LMT of food grains to be distributed under PMGKAY in May and June

The Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said that under the PMGKAY, 5 kg of food grains (wheat-rice) are being given free of cost to the 80 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Scheme (NFSA) in May. The Government will continue the scheme in June as well.

New Delhi: The Union Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey while addressing a virtual press conference said that Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in the corona crisis and lockdown, are greatly benefiting the poor of the country. This scheme has been started in light of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis and to ensure that no one stays hungry during the lockdowns and restrictions.

He said that under the PMGKAY, 5 kg of food grains (wheat-rice) are being given free of cost to the 80 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Scheme (NFSA) in May. The Government will continue the scheme in June as well.

Under PMGKAY, five kg free grain is being given per person per month. Under this scheme, a total of 80 LMT food grains will be distributed in May and June. He said that 39.69 LMT foodgrains have been allocated under PMGKAY so far to the States / Union Territories, in which the lifting of 15.55 LMT foodgrains has so far been done by 34 States and Union Territories from Food Corporation of India (FCI) depots for May.

At the same time, 12 states and union territories have distributed 1 LMT of food grains among 2 crore beneficiaries. States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Haryana, Himachal, Jammu Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttarakhand etc. have started distribution of free food grains.

Last year, in the national lockdown, the free rations were also given to migrant labourers without ration card. This time no such announcement has been made because now the ration card has been made for the majority of the migrant population. This time there is also no national lockdown. Some states have imposed lockdowns while the rest have Covid restrictions in place.

Migrant labourers are getting the benefit of the 'One Nation One Ration Card Scheme' (ONORC). Under ONORC, migrant labourers can get free ration from government ration shop in any state through their same ration card. A single ration card is valid across the entire country.

The ONORC scheme is in operation in 32 states. Every month 1.5-1.6 crore portability transactions are being registered under ONORC. Various state governments are also running many such schemes in which migrant labourers are getting food grains at cheap rates.