Government Extends Free Ration Scheme Till September

On Saturday, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, has extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) scheme for another six months i.e., till September 2022 (Phase VI). The scheme was initially about to end in March 2022.

According to a statement by the cabinet, the Government has spent approximately Rs. 2.60 Lakh Crore so far and another Rs. 80,000 Crore will be spent over the next 6 months till September 2022 taking the total expenditure under PM-GKAY to nearly Rs. 3.40 Lakh Crore.

The scheme will cover nearly 80 crore beneficiaries across India and like before would be fully funded by the Government of India.

Under the extended PM-GKAY each beneficiary will get an additional 5 kg free ration per person per month in addition to his normal quota of food grains under the NFSA.

“It is worth highlighting that the Government had allocated about 759 LMT of free foodgrains under the PM-GKAY till Phase V. With another 244 LMT of free foodgrains under this extension (Phase VI), the aggregate allocation of free foodgrains under the PM-GKAY now stand at 1,003 LMT of foodgrains,” read the statement.

Soon after the decision by the Cabinet, Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal said under the world’s biggest security program Modi government ensured that no one goes hungry.

“Under the world’s biggest food security program, the Modi government has ensured that the stove of every poor remains burning and no one goes hungry. The extension of PMGKAY till September 2022 by the Modi government despite the end of Kovid shows their sensitivity towards the poor,” tweeted Piyush Goyal in Hindi.