The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi interacted with beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in Uttar Pradesh via video conference. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Shri Yogi Adityanath was also present on the occasion.

Talking about the pandemic, the Prime Minister noted that in the past, when such a big crisis hit the country, then all the systems of the country were shaken badly. However, today in India, every citizen is fighting this pandemic with full force. The Prime Minister dwelled at length on the efforts to deal with the once in a century crisis.

The Prime Minister said the double engine government has ensured that the schemes made for the poor, downtrodden, backward, tribals are implemented expeditiously. The Prime Minister also elaborated on the measures taken to mitigate the situation during the pandemic. An effective strategy kept the cost of food items in control, Suitable measures were undertaken to keep the supply of seeds or fertilizers for farmers as a result, the farmers gave record production and the government also made record procurement under MSP. He also praised the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister for record MSP procurement in UP. In UP the number of farmers benefited from MSP doubled during the past year. In UP, more than 24 thousand crore rupees were deposited directly in the account of 13 lakh farmer families as price of their produce. In Uttar Pradesh 17 lakh families have been allotted houses, lakhs of poor families got toilets, One half free gas and lakhs of electricity connections. 27 lakh households have received piped water in the state, the prime Minister informed. 

It may be noted that in year 2020, for a period of 8 months i.e., from April 2020 to November 2020, under PM-GKAY, the State of Uttar Pradesh was allocated around 58.2 Lakh MT foodgrains by Central Government for free of cost distribution to NFSA beneficiaries @ 5 Kg per person per month. Similarly, an allocation of 51.5 lakh MT of PM-GKAY food grain has been provisioned for the State of Uttar Pradesh for 7 months period in 2021 i.e., from May 2021 to November 2021. Under PM-GKAY 2020 (April to November 2020) on monthly basis an average of around 96.6% of foodgrains was distributed in Uttar Pradesh and under PM-GKAY 2021 (i.e., from May to November 2021), on monthly basis, so far, an average of nearly 96% of foodgrains has been distributed in the State of Uttar Pradesh from May 2021 till July 2021. 

The State of Uttar Pradesh has established a technologically robust Public Distribution System with an automated supply chain management & Aadhaar seeding of around 100% of the NFSA ration cards in the state. The State has maintained a high level of transparency in the distribution of PDS Foodgrains even during the COVID-19 period with an average of 98.5% of monthly e-PoS transactions being distributed after Aadhaar Authentication through a robust network of around 79,612 e-PoS enabled Fair Price Shops during last 6 months.

The ambitious ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ (ONORC) Plan, which is also an integral part of the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Technology Driven System Reforms under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, was enabled in the State from May 2020 and since inception about 2.66 Crore portability transactions (including intra-state transactions) has been recorded in the State.  ONORC plan is currently enabled in 33 States/UTs and is serving as a gamechanger by allowing the NFSA beneficiaries, particularly migrant beneficiaries, to access the NFSA entitlements from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) in the country.

To ameliorate the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the pandemic, the Central Government through Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan 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).

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DJN/NS