Sunday, 27 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
In keeping with the government’s concern and sensitivity towards poor and vulnerable sections of society, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) scheme has been extended for another six months – till September 2022 (Phase VI). Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for extension of PM-GKAY. He said that this decision of the Government of India will benefit the poor and weaker sections of society. Implemented during the Covid-19 era, this is one the biggest schemes in the sphere of social security in the world, added Dhami.
It is pertinent to mention here that the phase-V of the PM-GKAY scheme was to end in March 2022. It may be recalled that the PM-GKAY has been under implementation since April 2020, as the largest food security programme in the world. The government has spent approximately Rs 2.60 lakh crore so far and another Rs 80,000 crore will be spent over the next six months till September 2022 taking the total expenditure under PM-GKAY to nearly Rs 3.40 lakh crore. This will cover nearly 80 crore beneficiaries across India and like before would be fully funded by the Government of India.
Even though the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly abated and economic activities are gathering momentum, this PM-GKAY extension would ensure that no poor household goes to bed without food during this time of recovery, said officials.
Under the extended PM-GKAY each beneficiary will get an additional five kilogrammes free ration per person per month in addition to his normal quota of foodgrains under the NFSA. This means that every poor household would get nearly double the normal quantity of ration. It is worth mentioning that the government had allocated about 759 LMT of free foodgrains under the PM-GKAY till Phase V. With another 244 LMT of free foodgrains under this extension (Phase VI), the aggregate allocation of free foodgrains under the PM-GKAY now stand at 1,003 LMT of foodgrains.
