New Delhi: The Centre said on Friday the government will provide 5 kilogram of free food grains to to 80 crore people covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013, “due to economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak in the country” for the months of May and June under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
This will be “over and above NFSA foodgrains for next two months i.e. May and June 2021 on the same pattern as the earlier “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY)”, it added.
“Under this special scheme (PMGKAY), around 80 Crore NFSA beneficiaries covered under both categories of NFSA, namely Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Householders (PHH), will be provided with an additional quota of free-of-cost foodgrains (Rice/Wheat) at a scale of 5 Kg per person per month, over and above their regular monthly entitlements under NFSA.
Government of India will bear all expenditure of over ₹26,000 Crore on account of food subsidy and Central assistance to states/UTs on account of intrastate transportation etc,” it added.