Rice\, wheat allotted to State

Keral

Rice, wheat allotted to State

For alleviating hardships of the underprivileged on account of COVID-19

Kerala will be entitled to 3.87 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat for the five months from July to November under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

The foodgrain allocation worth ₹1,388 crore constitutes the second-phase allotment under the Centrally funded PMGKAY meant to alleviate hardships faced by the underprivileged on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under it, priority households and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) cardholders will be entitled to five kg of rice or wheat free of cost. The free rations under the PMGKAY is in addition to subsidised grains given through the Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

In Kerala, the scheme is expected to benefit 1.54 crore people. The monthly allotment for the State would come to 0.632 tonnes of rice and 0.142 tonnes of wheat, the Centre said on Friday.

Sufficient stocks are available at the Food Corporation of India (FCI) depots across Kerala to meet the requirement under the NFSA and PMGKAY for the next four months, FCI general manager (Kerala) V.K. Yadav said in a statement.

“At present, 5.41 tonnes of foodgrains are available for utilisation in Kerala, out of which 4.80 tonnes is with the FCI and 0.61 tonnes of custom-milled rice is with the State government,” Mr. Yadav said. FCI stocks in Kerala are being continuously replenished to ensure food security during the subsequent months, the FCI official added.

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