-Moneycontrol.com The free and subsidised grains are an implicit income transfer to people and ensure basic protection from starvation The distribution of free grains through the Public Distribution System (PDS) under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) has been one of the main relief measures undertaken by the Indian government in response to the economic distress brought about by the Covid pandemic. From April 2020 until the end of 2022,...
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Centre saves subsidy and wheat stocks by making PDS free, ending PMGKAY -Sanjeeb Mukherjee & Arup Roychoudhury
-Business Standard If PMGKAY was continued beyond December 2022, at least Rs 40,000 crore would have got spent for three months (Jan to March) The Centre seems to have made a smart move to not only limit its food subsidy outgo, which was going out of hand due to unabated extensions of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) but also saved a good chunk of wheat for effective intervention in the...
More »A welcome move: On the free grains scheme under food security law
-The Hindu The Centre’s taking up the burden for free food grain distribution in 2023 will provide relief to States The Government has decided not to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, (PMGKY), a scheme that ran between April 2020 to December 2022 (except for a short period in between), and provided additional allocation of food grains, i.e., rice or wheat from the central pool at five kilograms a month...
More »Stop PMGKAY, Release Food Grains to the Open Market -Siraj Hussain
-TheWire.in Prudence demands that allocations under PMGKAY are not extended beyond December 2022 and food grains are released in the open market. How important is professional advice to the government? This question crops up from time to time as the capability of government to deliver high growth of 7-8% per annum is challenged. The question will be answered in two weeks from now. Dr Ramesh Chand, member, Niti Ayog and one of the...
More »Weighing in on PMGKAY, the free grains scheme -T Ramakrishnan
-The Hindu The Government may have its reasons in extending, once again, the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana scheme, but it cannot delay the commissioning of a study that should help stop the diversion of foodgrains and identify the food needy The extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), a scheme to distribute free foodgrains to the poor, for another three months, comes as a surprise for many...
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