IT News
Imphal, May 7
During the ongoing crisis owing to Covid-19 Pandemic, one of the most important initiatives of Govt. of India is the announcement of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) providing free food grains to the affected population. The salient features of the scheme are:
·Government of India would not allow anybody, especially any poor family, to suffer on account of non-availability of food grains due to disruption in the three months.
·80 crore individuals, i.e, roughly two-thirds of India’s population would be covered under this scheme.
·Each one of them would be provided double of their current entitlement over the next three months.
·This additionality would be free of cost.
Under the scheme, about 120 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) food grains are being distributed to the vulnerable sections of society across the country affected by the pandemic. Government of India has ensured that all priority households (PHH) under NFSA gets double their usual allocation during three months of April, May and June 2020 along with each Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiary getting an extra 5 Kg/month than their normal quota of 35 Kg per card per month. There has been enthusiastic response from the state governments against this scheme and a quantity of 69.28 LMT has already been lifted upto 06.05.20.
Govt. of India is incurring an expenditure of about Rs. 46,000 crores covering the cost of food grains, costs of its procurement, storage & transportation as well as distribution upto the point of delivery to the intended beneficiaries at the fair price shop (FPS). Total cost of operations starting from cost of the grain paid to the farmer upto payment of commission to FPS shop owners is borne by Govt. of India at the rate of about Rs 39 per kg for rice and about Rs. 28 per kg for wheat. This entire food support scheme is implemented by the Government of India without any financial burden on the State Governments.
The PMGKAY covers 24.57 lakh beneficiaries in Manipur (AAY 2.01 lakh & PHH 22.56 lakh) which is about 87 percent of the total population of the state as per 2011 census. The allocation of rice under PMGKAY for Manipur @ 5 kg per beneficiary is 12283.91 MT (AAY 1002.500 MT & PHH 11281.405 MT) per month for three months (April to June). In terms of monetary value of the food grain allotted to Manipur at economic cost of Rs. 39 per kg comes to Rs.47.91 crore per month.
The Government of Manipur has fully lifted allocation for the month of April 2020 but no grain has been lifted under the scheme for the month of May as on 06.05.2020.