Rs 2.60 lakh crore to be spent on food grains under PMGKAY till March: Centre

New Delhi, Feb 3 The Centre on Wednesday said it expects to spend Rs 2.60 lakh crore till March 2022 from April 2020, on food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY).

Additionally, over Rs 3,109 crore were provided under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat (ANB) scheme for the needy. The government, under ANB scheme, allocated about total eight LMT of additional food-grain.

For food grains (including pulses and chana) the total financial implication is about Rs 2.75 lakh crores, the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ashwini Kumar Choubey said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

For pulses and chana, a total of Rs 5,140 crore under PMGKAY-I (April-June 2020), over Rs 6,999 crore under PMGKAY-II (July-November 2020) and a total of Rs 280 crore between May-June 2020 under ANB scheme had been allocated, the minister stated.

Under PMGKAY-I and II, 1 kg of pulses and whole chana respectively were distributed per household per month, free of cost, to 19.4 crore beneficiary households under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA). Similarly, 1kg of whole chana per household per month, free of cost, during May and June 2020 to migrants who were neither covered under NFSA nor state scheme of PDS Cards, Lok Sabha was informed.

An additional 5 kg per person per month food grains (rice and wheat) was provided, free of cost, to all the beneficiaries covered under NFSA under PMGKAY between April-November in 2020 and between May 2021-March 2022 (tentative).