Agartala, Nov 24, 2021, ENEWSTIME Desk
Union Cabinet has approved on Wednesday the extension for the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY-Phase V) for a period of another 4 months - from December 2021 till March 2022. The decision to continue the Yojana will help more than 80 crore people across the country, said Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb today.
In a social media post, Deb hailed the decision and wrote, “I am thankful to Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji as central government led by him extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana until March 2022. More than 80 crore people will get free foodgrains across the nation under this scheme”.
Welcoming the decision, MoS for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhowmik also wrote, Union Cabinet led by PM Shri @narendramodi ji approves continuation of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana till March 2022. This will help 80 crore beneficiaries covered under NFSA and will receive food grains at 5 kg/person per month free of cost”.
According to a PIB press release, the Phase-I and Phase-II of this scheme was operational from April to June, 2020 and July to November, 2020 respectively. Phase-III of the scheme was operational from May to June, 2021. Phase-IV of the scheme is currently operational for July-November, 2021 months.
The PMGKAY scheme for Phase V from December 2021 till March, 2022 would entail an estimated additional food subsidy of Rs. 53344.52 Crore
The total outgo in terms of food-grains for PMGKAY Phase V is likely to be about 163 LMT.
In the wake of economic disruptions caused by the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 in the country last year, the Government in March 2020 had announced the distribution of additional free-of-cost foodgrains (Rice/Wheat) to about 80 Crore National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries at the scale of 5 Kg per person per month under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY), over and above the regular monthly NFSA foodgrains i.e., regular entitlements of their ration cards, so that the poor, needy and the vulnerable households/beneficiaries do not suffer on account of non-availability of adequate foodgrains during the times of economic crisis.
So far, under the PM-GKAY(phase I to IV) the Department had allocated a total of almost 600 LMT foodgrains to the States/UTs equivalent to about Rs. 2.07 Lakh Crore in food subsidy.