By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAY 05, 2021: THE Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to allocate 5 kg additional foodgrain per month under the third phase of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) to about 80 crore PDS beneficiaries for the months of May and June.

The scheme was initially rolled out for three months till June, 2020 to support migrant workers who were harshly affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. It was eventually extended to November to ensure no poor goes hungry, before being revived again this year as many States opt for localised lockdowns.

"Additional allocation will ameliorate the hardships faced by poor due to economic disruption caused by coronavirus. No poor family will suffer on account of non-availability of food-grains due to disruption in the next two months," said the Cabinet.

Under the PM-GKAY, around 79.88 crore beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 will receive an additional 5 kg of food grains per person per month in May and June, totalling to approximately 80 lakh tonne.

The allocation for States and Union Territories (UTs) in terms of wheat and rice shall be decided by the Department of Food and Public Distribution on the basis of existing allocation ratio under the NFSA.

Also, the department has been granted the rights to further extend the lifting and distribution period under PM-GKAY as per operational requirements keeping in view the localised lockdowns and adverse weather conditions.

The Centre will bear the entire cost of the distribution process which comes to an estimated food subsidy of Rs. 25,332.92 crore taking the estimated economic cost of Rs. 36,789.2 per tonne for rice and Rs. 25,731.4 per tonne for wheat.