Free Ration Food Scheme Distribution Extended Till Diwali

During the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the Government of India introduced Garib Kalyan Pradhan Mantri Anna Yojana PMGKAY, a food security welfare plan. The Department of Food and Public Distribution, which is part of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, runs the program.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a speech to the nation that the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, which provides foodgrains to the underprivileged, will be extended until Diwali 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that up to 80 crore underprivileged Indians will receive free food until Diwali. This will be part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana's expanded scope.

The initiative intends to feed India's poorest inhabitants by distributing grain to all priority families through the Public Distribution System (ration cardholders and those identified by the Antyodaya Anna Yojana scheme). PMGKAY gives each family a ration card 5 kilograms of rice or wheat (depending on regional dietary preferences) and 1 kilo of dal. The size of this welfare program makes it the world's largest food security program.

Who is eligible for the scheme?

• The plan would be available to families who fall into the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) categories.
• Households headed by widows, terminally ill people, crippled people, or people over the age of 60 who have no reliable source of income or societal support.
• Widows, terminally ill people, disabled people, people over 60 years old, and unmarried women and men without family or community support or a reliable source of income.
• All primitive tribal households.
• Slum-dwellers, landless agriculture laborers, marginal farmers, rural artisans/craftsmen such as potters, tanners, weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters, slum dwellers, and people earning a living in the informal sector such as porters, coolies, rickshaw pullers, hand cart pullers, fruit and flower sellers, snake charmers, rag pickers, cobblers, destitute, and other similar categories.
• Families with HIV + members who fall below the poverty line are eligible.

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