According to the reports in different media, the Government may put an end on the Free Ration Scheme after September. The finance ministry has reportedly warned the government on spending more money on food and other subsidiaries.
Announced on 26 March 2020 by the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi and extended every 6 months, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) was a part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).
As per the data available on the Indian Government’s National web portal, this was launched to provide food security to 80 crore Indians during the pandemic.
This scheme aimed at helping the poorest of the poor by providing them food and money to buy essentials for everyday use during the lock down. Under this scheme, any person enrolled gets 5kg of free grains and 1kg of dal for the family every month.
The daily wage laborers and the migrant workers faced the most challenges during the lock down with their everyday struggle for their livelihood and survival got a little relief under this scheme.
This was an essential way to help the underprivileged to fight the battle against Corona virus; with this scheme the Government made sure that the people did not face any difficulties in meeting essential needs. This scheme saved many lives during the pandemic.
As per a report on the Press Bureau of India’s website, nearly 1000 LMT of food grains were provided under PMGKAY till march 2022. The Government announced the extension of this scheme till September 2022 on 26th March 2022 keeping in mind the poor and vulnerable section of the society.
In this report it was also mentioned that the Government had already spent Rs.2.60 lakh crore and more Rs.80,000 crore would be spent till September 2022 taking the total expenditure under this scheme to nearly Rs.3.40 lakh crore.
This scheme is totally funded by the Government of India and the extension of PMGKAY for every six months costs the government around Rs.80,000 crores; which is damaging the country’s fiscal position, the government may have to find resources to fund this scheme said by the finance ministry people.
If this happens, it won’t be the good news for the underprivileged as most of them still depend on this scheme for their everyday food supplies. Even after the pandemic has come to an end and the lock down has been lifted up since a long time, many people have not gotten back to their normal lives.
This pandemic has taken away the livelihood of many families. Especially the daily wagers and migrant workers are struggling hard to sustain; abolishing this scheme will add up more their struggles.