Extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY)

Context:

After successful completion of Phase IV, Phase V will begin from December 1, 2021

Key Highlights of PMGKAY:

• The Union  Cabinet has approved the extension for  the  Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY-Phase V) for a  period of  another 4 months i.e. December 2021 till March 2022 @ 5 kg per person per month free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) [Antodaya Anna Yojana & Priority Households] including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
• 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.
• It may be recalled that 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.
• The distribution under PMGKAY-IV is presently ongoing, and as per the reports available from States/UTs so far,  93.8% foodgrains have been lifted and nearly 37.32 LMT (93.9% of July’21), 37.20 LMT (93.6% of Aug’21), 36.87 LMT (92.8% of Sept’21), 35.4 LMT (89% of Oct’21) and 17.9 LMT ( 45% of Nov’21) foodgrains have been distributed to about 74.64 Crore, 74.4 Crore, 73.75 Crore, 70.8 Crore and 35.8 crore beneficiaries respectively. 
• Going by the experience of earlier phases, the performance of PMGKAY-V is also expected to be on the same high level as achieved before.
• Overall, the government will be incurring an expenditure of nearly Rs.2.60 lakh Crore in PMGKAY Phase I- V.

About PMGKAY

• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana is basically a Food Security Welfare scheme in India. It was first announced in March 2020.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana scheme functions under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and the program is operated by the Department of Food and Public Distribution working under the same Ministry.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana will cover 80 crore poor people.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was announced by the Government for the period April-November, 2020. This was to meet the food security of the people as per National Food Security Act (NFSA).
• At an estimated expenditure of Rs. 26,602 Crore, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana was announced for the months of May and June in 2021.
• On 7th June 2021, the Prime Minister addressed the nation and announced the extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for five more months till Diwali i.e.till end of November 2021.
• At an estimated financial implication of up to Rs. 67,266 Crore, around 80 Crore NFSA beneficiaries will be receiving the benefits of the scheme for 5 more months.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana – Benefits

• Every beneficiary will be given 5 kg of rice and wheat for free.
• This is given in addition to the quota of rice at Rs 3/kg and wheat at Rs 2/kg.
• Each individual will be given double of their entitlement for a particular time period.
• The additional entitlement will be given free of cost to all those individuals.
• 1 kg Pulses will be given free of cost by the Government to the individuals, to meet the protein requirements.
• The pulses chosen will be as per regional preferences.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana – Significance of Leveraging Technology

• After independence, all the Governments had the desire to make sure that food was available and accessible at cheap rates for the poor people.
• With passage of time, the budget as well as the scope of providing cheap ration to the poor people kept rising.
• Despite increasing the budget and scope, the effect it had in addressing the problems were limited.
• Malnutrition and starvation among the poor people did not decrease proportionately with the increase in food production and food storage in India.
• The main reason behind this continued problem was the lack of an effective delivery system.
• It can be observed that post 2014, the work was started afresh by leveraging the power of technology.
• Technology helped in linking Aadhar cards and ration cards.
• Crores of fake beneficiaries were weeded out with the help of technology.
• Covid-19 pandemic, one of the biggest calamities the world has seen, completely threatened the livelihood of crores of Indians, but leveraging technology, it ensured that benefits of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana reached the intended beneficiaries thereby ensuring that none of the poor people went hungry during this pandemic.
• The Government of India spent more than 2 lakh crores and made sure that free ration was available for more than 80 crore people during the pandemic.

Source: PIB

You can find many articles on SCHEMES (part of GS II) in our website. Go through these articles share with your friends and post your views in comment section.