PM to take decision on extending free foodgrain scheme: Minister

Emphasising that the government has sufficient foodgrains stock, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a call on extending the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme to provide free ration to the poor beyond December.

"Covid-19 cases are coming. The scheme will continue till December... After that, the decision (on extending it) will be taken by the prime minister," Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shobha Karandlaje, told reporters.

In last 28 months, the government has spent Rs 1.8 lakh crore on distribution of free ration to the poor under PMGKAY, she said.

The government has sufficient foodgrains stock to meet the requirement under the food security law and other welfare schemes, she added.

The Union minister further said foodgrains procurement for Public Distribution System (PDS) and welfare schemes like PMGKAY is being done smoothly even as there were "misconception of production fall in rice and wheat" due to some impact of drought and climate change on crops in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

Karandlaje also listed out steps taken to upgrade PDS with modern technology so as to check wastage and siphoning of PDS foodgrain besides making payment of support price for procured grains directly to farmers via DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) mode.

Renewed focus will now be on encouraging production and export of millets ahead of International Year of Millets to be celebrated in 2023, she added.

PMGKAY was started in April 2020 to help the poor whose livelihoods were shuttered by a nationwide lockdown aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus. Under the scheme, 5 kg of wheat and rice is provided free of cost to 80 crore poor per month.