Centre discontinues PMGKAY, faces Cong barb for ‘slashing rations by half’

The Congress on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of slashing the rations for the poor by 50 per cent in the new year. It said 81 crore Indians eligible for 10 kg of foodgrains will now get only 5 kg.

“The year 2023 began with the depressing news that Modi’s Cabinet has discontinued the Pradhan Mantri Garib Anna Kalyan Yojana (PMGKAY), which provided an additional 5 kg of foodgrains to beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA),” said All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Jairam Ramesh.

He said the Prime Minister had taken the “regressive” decision without discussing it with state governments or in Parliament.

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The Centre began distributing free foodgrains for 28 months under PMGKAY after the Covid pandemic, and the scheme ended in December 2022.

But the Cabinet decided that subsidized foodgrains distributed to about 81.35 crore beneficiaries under NFSA will be given free rations in 2023 as well.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal said 5 kg of foodgrains per person to Priority Households beneficiaries and 35 kg per household to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) beneficiaries (poorest of the poor) will be provided free of cost in 2023, proving that the Modi government was sensitive to the poor.

But PTI quoted Congress leader Ramesh as saying that the Modi government was “falsely trumpeting” the free 5 kg of grains under the NFSA as a historic decision.

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According to him, the main beneficiary is the Modi government itself, which he said will save over Rs 1 lakh crore, and not ration card holders whose spending will increase.

In his statement, Ramesh called the Prime Minister a “master of U-turn,” alleging that he opposed schemes like MGNREGA and NFSA during UPA regime, but now took credit for them.

According to him, the economic distress that forced the Modi government to provide free ration continues even now.

Significantly, India now ranks 107th among 121 countries on the Global Hunger Index 2022, he pointed out.

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“The Congress calls on the Modi government to use the Rs 1 lakh crore saved by discontinuing PMGKAY to strengthen the food security system in three ways,” Ramesh said.

“First, nearly 10 crore people who should hold ration cards are excluded because of the inordinate delay in the 2021 Census. They must be included immediately,” he stressed.

He said the Centre had failed to respond to a Supreme Court order that ration should be provided to all migrant workers even if they do not have ration cards. This must immediately comply, he emphasized.

“The NFSA provides Rs 6,000 per child to women as maternity entitlements,” PTI quoted him as saying.

“However, the government illegally limits this to Rs 5,000 for the first child only. The Modi government must stop violating the NFSA immediately,” he added.

(With agency inputs)