The President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind addressed the joint sitting of two Houses of the Parliament, here today. The President, in his address, highlighted the various initiatives taken by the Centre in providing free ration to the poor households. Besides, he also underlined the record procurement done as a result of record production of food grains.

In his speech, the President said, “Several major countries have experienced scarcity of food-grains and faced starvation during the Corona crisis. But my sensitive government ensured that nobody remained hungry during the worst pandemic in 100 years. My government is providing free ration to each poor household every month under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. This is the world’s largest food distribution program with an outlay of Rupees two lakh sixty thousand crore reaching out to 80 crore beneficiaries for 19 months. Being fully sensitive to the present circumstances, the government has extended this scheme till March 2022.”

“My government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country. Despite the pandemic, our farmers produced more than 30 crore tonnes of food grains and 33 crore tonnes of horticulture produce in 2020-21. The government made record procurement to match the record production. The government procured 433 lakh metric tonnes of wheat during the Rabi season benefiting about 50 lakh farmers. A record quantity of about 900 lakh metric tonnes of paddy was procured during Kharif season, benefiting 1 crore 30 lakh farmers,” he added.

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DJN/NS