The free ration programme will be extended for an additional five years by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government if it comes to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Speaking in Chhattisgarh, where Assembly polls will be held in a few days, he said that the country’s 80 crore poor people would benefit from the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. As the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled for next year, the prime minister made his statement.
Prime Minister Modi declared, “I have decided that the BJP government will extend the scheme of providing free ration to 80 crore poor people of the country for the next 5 years.”
During the COVID-19 crisis, the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) was launched. In order to prevent them from suffering due to a lack of access to sufficient foodgrains, the programme has given food security to the underprivileged, needy, and vulnerable households and beneficiaries.
A new integrated food security scheme was later approved by the Modi Cabinet in January 2023, giving beneficiaries of the Antodaya Ann Yojna (AAY) and Primary Household (PHH) free foodgrains.
The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) was the other name for the new programme. According to the government, the programme “benefited more than 80 crore poor and poorest of poor people” when it was launched on January 1, 2023.
“Keeping in view welfare of the beneficiaries and in order to maintain uniformity across the states, free foodgrains will be provided under PMGKAY for the year 2023 to all PHH and AAY beneficiaries, as per entitlement under the NFSA (National Food Security Act, 2023),” said the statement.
The central government will spend more than ₹2 lakh crore in 2023 on food subsidies under the NFSA and other welfare schemes, according to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, “to remove the financial burden of the poor and the poorest of the poor.”