Title : PRADHAN MANTRI GARIB KALYAN ANNA YOJNA

Date : Nov 25, 2021

Description :

GS II

 

Topic à Government Policies and Interventions

 

• Why is it in the news:

 

• Because the country's healthcare infrastructure has reached capacity and several states have implemented measures such as complete lockdown and night curfew to combat the disease's spread, the scheme has been extended for four more months (until March 2022).

 

• About the Scheme:

 

• PMGKAY is a part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP), which is designed to help the poor battle Covid-19.
• Its nodal ministry is the Ministry of Finance.
• It was supposed to last three months (April, May, and June 2020), and it was supposed to cover 80 million ration card holders. Later, it was extended to November 2020.
• In April 2021, the government, on the other hand, announced that the PMGKAY would be revived.
• The programme aimed to provide an additional 5 kg of free grains (wheat or rice) to each person covered by the National Food Security Act of 2013, in addition to the 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains already provided under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
• The provision of free 1 kilogramme pulses per month to each home covered by the NFSA is one of the important components of the current PMGKAY, which was also present in the 2020 PMGKAY.
• Expenditure: The Indian government would cover the whole cost of the food subsidy and Central funding to states and union territories for intra-state transit and other reasons, which totals about Rs. 26,000 crore.
• So far, the following has been the distribution:
• Under the PMGKAY, states have hauled 15.55 lakh metric tonnes (MT) out of a total monthly allocation of 39.69 lakh MT.
• 1.01 lakh MT have been distributed to 2.03 crore people until May 2021.

 

• Challenges:

 

• The fact that the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act are decided by the most recent census is a huge problem (2011). The number of those who are food insecure has increased since then, and it continues to go unreported.

 

• Source à The Hindu à 25/11/21 à Page 1

Tags : National Food Security Act, PMGKAY