The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the allocation of additional foodgrain to beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for another five months- from July to November.
The Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to continue allocating additional 5 kg of foodgrain a person every month under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to the 81.35 crore beneficiaries, a government statement said. The additional foodgrain would entail a subsidy of ₹64,031 crore, it noted.
“As Government of India is bearing the entire expenditure towards this scheme without any contribution by States/UTs, an additional expenditure of about ₹3,234.85 crore would be required to be met towards transportation and handling and FPS dealers’ margins etc. by Government of India. Thus, the total estimated expenditure to be borne by Government of India will be ₹67,266.44 crore,” it stated.
The total amount of foodgrain to be distributed was estimated to be 204 lakh metric tonnes. “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 five months,” it added.
