Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

Posted By
10Pointer
Categories
Polity & Governance
Published
7th May, 2022

Recently, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution revised the PMKGAY (Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana) allocation of rice and wheat for all the 36 states/UTs for the remaining five months — from May to September 2022.

Context

About PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY)

PMGKAY is a scheme by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
It is a scheme as part of Atmanirbhar Bharat to supply free food grains to migrants and the poor.
Government of India announced the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package(PMGKP) in 2020 to ameliorate the hardships faced by the poor due to economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 in the country.
This package inter-alia comprises the implementation of “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY)”, through which additional free-of-cost food grains (Rice/Wheat) at the scale of 5 Kg per person per month are being provided to about 81 Crore beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), so that poor and vulnerable families/beneficiaries are able to access food-grains easily without facing any financial distress.
The objective of the Scheme is to support the poorest citizens of India by providing grain through the Public Distribution System.
The scale of this welfare scheme makes it the largest food security program in the world.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana: All phases

Phase-I and Phase-II of this scheme was operational from April to June, 2020 and July to November, 2020 respectively.
Phase-III of the scheme was operational from May to June, 2021.
Phase-IV of the scheme was operational for July-November, 2021
Phase-V of the scheme will be operational by December 2021 to March 2022.

Significance and Challenge

Significance:It is significant in a view of daily wagers and informal sector entrepreneurs who lost their job in the wake of Covid-19 induced Lockdown.
Challenge:A key issue is that the beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act are based on the last census(2011).

The number of food-insecure people has increased since then and they remain uncovered.

About National Food Security Act, 2013

In PUCL vs Union of India, SC said Right to food is essential to Right to Life (Art 21). Hence NFSA has a rights based approach. Objective is to provide for food and nutritional security in the human life cycle approach.
All the above schemes PDS, RPDS, TPDS are merged except Antyodaya Anna Yojana which will continue to give 35 kg to the poorest of poor.
It covers 67% of the population (75% Rural and 50% Urban). Beneficiaries will be taken from SECC.
People will get 5 kgs of foodgrains per person per month upto 5 family members at subsidised prices of Rs. 3/2/1 per Kg for rice/wheat/coarse grains. It uses the TPDS mechanism.
Special nutritional support to women and children.

It includes meals to Pregnant women and lactating mothers during pregnancy and 6 months after child birth. They are entitled to a nutritious "take home ration" of 600 Calories and a maternity benefit of >= Rs 6,000 for 6 months. Hence, PMMVY is merged. 5000 + 1000 rs under Janani Suraksha Yojana.
Children upto 14 years will get nutritious meals.

If there is no supply in 15 days, then beneficiaries will get Food Security Allowance.
Grievance redressal mechanism at District and State levels. Transparency and Accountability to be ensured.
Food fortification = Rice with Protein; Wheat with Zinc and Coarse Cereals with Iron.
Utilisation of Dryland area agriculture which is 52% land.
In Chandigarh, Puducherry and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the act is impemented in cash transfer mode and they will have the choice to buy foodgrains from the open market.
The oldest woman in a household, >= 18 years, shall be the head of the household for the purpose of issuance of a ration card.