PMGKY

"Economic life hasn't returned to normal. Stopping PMGKAY now will affect the poor and their chance to get their lives back to normalcy after the pandemic"

If PMGKAY was continued beyond December 2022, at least Rs 40,000 crore would have got spent for three months (Jan to March)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a call on extending the PMGKAY scheme to provide free ration to the poor beyond December, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje said on Thursday said stressing that the government has sufficient foodgrains stock. If Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) has to be extended, the decision will be taken by the Cabinet, headed by the prime minister. The Cabinet meeting is scheduled on Friday. In September, the government had extended PMGKAY for three months till December 31. "Covid-19 cases are coming. The scheme is till December. ...After that, the decision (on extending it) will be taken by the prime minister," Karandlaje, Minister of State for Agriculture, told reporters. In last 28 months, the government has spent Rs 1.80 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

The retail inflation rate in wheat rose to 19.67 per cent in November from 17.64 per cent in October

"The food subsidy burden is already crossing Rs 3 trillion and we are hopeful that it will be brought down below that mark," said a senior government official

Centre's foodgrains stock managed by the Food Corporation of India remains 66% higher than the buffer norm

While challengers can promise the moon, the govt knows that the economic situation is tight and might even worsen before 2024. It would like to restrict the Opposition's ability to promise freebies

Amid concerns raised by the Finance Ministry over continuation of PMGKAY till December 2022 owing to inadequate food grains and extra burden on the exchequer, Govt claimed that it has sufficient stock

Extension of PMGKAY should have been avoided

Office memorandum flagged fiscal concerns due to impact of Ukraine war on fuel prices. With Covid-19 having largely subsided, reasons for which earlier extensions were given no more seem to hold

In several states, farmers have already moved on to other short-duration crops such as pulses and coarse cereals abandoning paddy

Nearly 20 lakh tonnes of foodgrains have been distributed for free so far to eligible beneficiaries under the fifth phase of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

At a time like this when the poor are barely beginning to get their household economy together, any weakening of their twin lifelines - free rations and MNREGA - would be grossly insensitive

The Centre has allocated nearly 60 million tonne of foodgrains for free distribution under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to provide relief to ration card holders amid the pandemic

The Centre's plan to start FY22 on a clean slate seems to have gone for a toss within just six months after it cleared the food subsidy backlog and paid its pending liabilities to NSSF

Cabinet approves extra spending of Rs 67,266.44 crore for five months; earlier extra amount of Rs 26,602 crore was estimated for May and June, 2021

This is taking place under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY).

The Centre on Saturday said it is gearing up for monthly distribution of additional 5 kg of foodgrains for free to 800 million PDS beneficiaries from May 1

While govt would have saved Rs 18,000 cr by distributing 33 mn tonnes of grains that would otherwise have gone waste, its subsidy payout amounts to Rs 45,000 cr