The Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ms. Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today informed, that under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), while Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households that constitute the poorest of the poor are legally entitled to receive 35 kg of foodgrains per family per month, priority households are entitled to 5 kg per person per month. There is no change in the entitlement of foodgrains of beneficiaries under the Act. Phase VII of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yajana (PMGKAY) was in operation upto 31.12.2022. The Central Government to remove the financial burden of the poor beneficiaries and to ensure nationwide uniformity and effective implementation of NFSA, has decided to provide food grains free of cost to AAY households and PHH beneficiaries under NFSA, 2013, for a period of one year beginning from 1st Jan 2023. Under the PMGKAY (Phase I to VII), the entire expenditure towards food subsidy, intra-state movement & handling of foodgrains and fair price shop dealers margin were borne by the Central Government. The additional cost of making foodgrains free of cost to the NFSA beneficiaries for one year from 01.01.2023 will be borne by Government of India.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural and upto 50% of the urban population for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), which at Census 2011 comes to about 81.35 crore. The Coverage under the Act is substantially high to ensure that all the vulnerable and needy sections of the society get its benefit. At present, no proposal for universalization of the coverage under the Act is under consideration of the Government.

The Central Government issues advisories to all the States/Union Territories from time to time to identify all eligible and poor persons/ households including vulnerable Sections of the Society for inclusion under the NFSA. States are undertaking updation of their beneficiary database so that bogus ration cards get deleted and better targeting of rightful beneficiaries is ensured. Thus, deletion of ineligible beneficiaries and addition of eligible beneficiaries under the Act is a continuous process.

 

Statement indicating the State/UT-wise intended coverage and current actual coverage.

S.No.	Name of the States/ Union Territories	Accepted No. of persons under NFSA/ Intended Coverage (In lakh)	Total number of persons presently covered under the Act (In lakh)	% of accepted persons
1	Andhra Pradesh	268.23	268.22	100.00%
2	Arunachal Pradesh	8.71	8.40	96.48%
3	Assam	251.90	251.17	99.71%
4	Bihar	871.16	871.16	100.00%
5	Chhattisgarh	200.77	200.77	100.00%
6	Delhi	72.78	72.78	100.00%
7	Goa	5.3218	5.32	100.00%
8	Gujarat	382.84	344.15	89.89%
9	Haryana	126.49	126.49	100.00%
10	Himachal Pradesh	36.82	28.64	77.80%
11	Jharkhand	264.25	264.12	99.95%
12	Karnataka	401.93	401.93	100.00%
13	Kerala	154.80	154.80	100.00%
14	Madhya Pradesh	546.42	511.32	93.58%
15	Maharashtra	700.17	700.17	100.00%
16	Manipur	25.06	20.08	80.14%

 

 

17	Meghalaya	21.46	21.46	100.00%
18	Mizoram	7.06	6.68	94.65%
19	Nagaland	14.79	14.05	94.98%
20	Odisha	326.21	325.03	99.64%
21	Punjab	141.513	141.51	100.00%
22	Rajasthan	446.62	440.01	98.52%
23	Sikkim	4.06	3.81	93.91%
24	Tamil Nadu	364.70	364.69	100.00%
25	Telangana	191.70	191.62	99.96%
26	Tripura	25.02	24.32	97.20%
27	Uttar Pradesh	1520.61	1497.77	98.50%
28	Uttarakhand	61.94	61.94	100.00%
29	West Bengal	601.84	601.84	100.00%
30	A&N	0.63	0.61	96.61%
31	DNH&DD	3.56	2.73	76.72%
32	Lakshadweep	0.22	0.22	99.06%
33	Chandigarh (DBT)	4.96	2.76	55.68%
34	Puducherry (DBT)	6.34	6.34	99.99%
35	J&K	72.69	72.41	99.61%
36	Ladakh	1.4391	1.44	99.99%
Total		8135.01	8010.78	98.47%

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