Free ration scheme for poor to expire next month in Bihar

PATNA: In a huge blow to those surviving on free ration, the Centre-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) launched to help the poverty-hit people badly affected by the Covid-induced lockdown is set to end next month.
Incidentally, the scheme was launched from Bihar just ahead of October-November 2020 assembly polls which helped the NDA retain power in the state despite all odds.
Out of the state's total population of 10.41 crores (as per Census 2011), the number of beneficiaries in this scheme is around 8.71 crores, which comes to 84% of the state's population.
Under the scheme, each beneficiary has been getting an additional 5kg free ration per person per month in addition to his normal quota of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). In all, 32 out of total 38 districts of Bihar have been covered under this scheme.
"It's for the Government of India to decide. The state government has no role (to play in it)," Food and Consumer Protection Department secretary Vinay Kumar told TOI on Friday when asked if the PM-GKAY would continue in Bihar after September.
The scheme which was formally launched by the Prime Minister on June 20, 2020 - four months before the start of assembly elections in the state - was extended by the Union Cabinet in March this year for the sixth time. If the Union Cabinet doesn't extend the scheme, it will automatically expire next month.
Official sources said roughly around Rs1,500 crores were being spent on providing free rice to the beneficiaries in the state per month, which means it cost the exchequer Rs18,000 crores every year.
"Given the huge amount of expenditure, it looks just impossible for the state government to continue the scheme at its own cost," said an official.
Curiously, the scheme launched from Telihar village in Khagaria district had proved to be the "game-changer" for the erstwhile ruling NDA which managed to return to power despite the strong anti-government current as a result of the lockdown which not only left crores of migrants jobless but also posed severe survival crisis before them. Such was the impact of this scheme that even the angry migrants who faced a lot of hardships in returning home due to suspension of all transport facilities reportedly voted for the NDA.
According to an official report, more than 30 lakh migrants returned to Bihar during the Covid lockdown and quite a good number of them are still settled in the villages owing to lack of job opportunities.