Govt yet to decide on extending free foodgrains scheme beyond September: Finance Secretary T V Somanathan

Foodgrains

Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said the government is yet to take a decision on extending PMGKAY under which 5 kilograms of foodgrains is provided free of cost to the poor.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) is to end on September 30. It was launched in March 2020 with an aim to mitigate hardships being faced by poor people in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the scheme has been extended several times.

The last extension is for six months and that ends on September 30. "Decision is yet to be taken," Somanathan said in response to a question regarding extension of the PMGKAY.

In the last two years, around Rs 2.6 lakh crore has been spent under the scheme and it will cost another Rs 80,000 crore with the extension of six months. In March 2020, the Centre launched the scheme to provide free 5 kg foodgrains per person per month to over 80 crore beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to reduce the hardships of people during the pandemic.

The free foodgrains are provided over and above the normal quota given under the NFSA at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2-3 per kg. Initially, in 2020-21, PMGKAY scheme was announced only for a period of three months of April, May and June 2020 (Phase-I). Later, the government extended the scheme from July to November 2020 (Phase-II).

The Centre in April 2021 re-introduced the scheme for a period of two months of May and June 2021 (Phase-III) and extended it for another five months from July to November 2021 (Phase-IV). The scheme was again extended from December 2021 to March 2022 (Phase-V).