The National Food Security Act (NFSA), which envisages supply of subsidised foodgrains, has been implemented across the country, the Centre said on Thursday.
“Kerala and Tamil Nadu have also rolled out the NFSA from November. With this, now the Act has been implemented in all the States and Union Territories,” Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters here at a press conference.
“As a result, 81.34 crore persons will get wheat at Rs. 2 per kg and rice at Rs. 3 per kg,” he said, adding that only 11 States had been implementing the NFSA when the NDA came to power.
“NFSA being an important initiative for ensuring food security, we actively pursued it and today I am happy to share that it’s being implemented in all the States and Union Territories,” he said.
“At the current coverage, the monthly allocation of foodgrains to States and UTs under the Act is about 45.5 lakh tonnes, with a subsidy implication of about Rs. 11,726 crore per month or about Rs.1,40,700 crore per year,” he added.
Mr. Paswan said the Centre would now focus on further reforms in the public distribution system.
