Definition
PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) began in April 2020 as a pandemic relief measure giving 5 kg of free food grains per person per month to NFSA beneficiaries, over and above their regular entitlement. Since January 2023 it has been merged with the NFSA so that the regular entitlement itself is free, and it has been extended for five years from January 2024.
Background and evolution
The scheme also highlighted the importance of portable ration cards. Before the pandemic, a migrant worker from Bihar working in Mumbai could not draw grain there. The rollout of One Nation One Ration Card across all states and union territories by 2022 allowed beneficiaries to collect grain from any fair price shop using Aadhaar authentication, which became important for migrant families.
When India imposed a nationwide lockdown in March 2020, millions of informal workers lost their incomes overnight, and many migrants walked hundreds of kilometres home. The government needed a quick way to prevent hunger. India had large stocks of wheat and rice in Food Corporation of India warehouses, well above buffer norms, and an established PDS reaching most households. PMGKAY used this infrastructure to double the grain available to NFSA beneficiaries free of cost.
The scheme was extended repeatedly as the pandemic continued, and later merged with the NFSA. In effect, India moved from subsidised grain to free grain for two-thirds of its population. This page looks at PMGKAY from the angle of fiscal policy and food stock management: what it costs, how it uses FCI stocks, and what the shift to free grain means for the future of the PDS, rather than restating NFSA entitlements.
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