The Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar is topmost in India to have lifted highest percentage of foodgrains under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) Phase IV.

The UT of Andaman & Nicobar has lifted 93% of the allocated foodgrains under PMGKAY -IV (from July 2021-September 15, 2021). Following close is Odisha which has lifted 92%, Tripura and Meghalaya on the third spot lifting 73% each while Telangana, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh lifted 71% foodgrains each in the above mentioned time period. 

Pertinently, during Phase IV of PMGKAY which started in July 2021 till September 15, 2021, 56.53% of foodgrains have been lifted in the country. The Phase IV period will conclude in November 2021.

Notably, Phase III of the scheme has reported highest lifting percentage of 98.41%.

Government of India has so far allocated nearly 600 LMT of foodgrains under PMGKAY Scheme in all its four phases. Against the total allocation done under the scheme in all phases, 82.76% of lifting of foodgrains has been done till September 15, 2021.

The Centre allocates foodgrains in every phase of the scheme. Once the state government takes the allocated foodgrains from the Centre for further disbursement, it is called as lifting.

The details of allocation and lifting of foodgrains under PMGKAY is as under:

The State/UT-wise details of allocation and lifting are available at Annexure – I.

To ameliorate the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, the Central Government through Pradhan MantriGaribKalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) almost doubled the quantity of monthly foodgrains being distributed normally to around 80 Crore beneficiaries in the country covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA) by providing them an additional quantity of 5 Kg foodgrains per person per month, free-of-cost, over and above the normal NFSA entitlement of their Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)/ Priority Householders (PHH) ration cards (i.e., 35 Kg per AAY family and 5 Kg per PHH person per month respectively). Initially, this additional free benefit under PM-GKAY was provided for a period of three months (i.e., April to June 2020). However, with the crisis continuing, the program was extended for another five months (i.e., July to November 2020). After the onset of the second wave of the pandemic, PM-GKAY was once again rolled-out for a period of two months (i.e., May and June 2021) and was further extended for a period of five months (i.e. July to November 2021).

****

DJN/NS