Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana - World's Largest Food Security Initiative Extended till 2028

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Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana: India’s Massive Food Security Initiative

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) was launched in 2020 by the Union Cabinet to provide free food grains during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PMGKAY scheme covers over 80 crore beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), making it the largest food security program in the world.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), 5 kg of additional free food grains are provided per person per month to NFSA beneficiaries, over and above their regular entitlements. The Central Government fully bears the cost of providing food grains free of cost to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households and Priority Households (PHH) beneficiaries under the PMGKAY scheme. For example, priority households receive 10 kg per person (5 kg under NFSA + 5 kg under PMGKAY) to meet their food requirements.

The scheme has been implemented by the government in multiple phases since its launch in 2020 during the initial COVID lockdown:

Phase 1 & 2 – April 2020 to November 2020
Phase 3 – May 2021 to June 2021
Phase 4 – July 2021 to November 2021
Phase 5 – December 2021 to March 2022

The most recent announcement states that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) has been extended for another five years until December 2028 to continue providing nutritional support to the poor.

PMGKAY and the National Food Security Act

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) scheme was built upon the existing framework of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

Under NFSA, there are two categories of beneficiaries:

Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY): The poorest families are entitled to 35 kg of food grains per family per month.
Priority Households: Entitled to receive 5 kg per person per month.

The PMGKAY scheme provides an additional entitlement of 5 kg of free food grains per person per month over and above what beneficiaries already receive under NFSA.

For example, AAY families continue to get 35 kg under NFSA, plus additional 5 kg per person under PMGKAY. Similarly, priority households will get 5 kg under NFSA and additional 5 kg under PMGKAY – thereby taking their total monthly entitlement to 10 kg per person.

This way, PMGKAY significantly expanded food security coverage using the established NFSA channels and beneficiary databases. Its extension allows crores of NFSA families to keep receiving augmented rations for 5 more years.

Scale and Impact

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is a massive scheme in terms of financial outlay and coverage.

The total estimated expenditure of the government on PMGKAY over 5 years (2020 – 2027) is Rs 1.8 lakh crore. This makes it one of the world’s biggest food welfare initiatives.

To give a sense of scale – just in Uttar Pradesh alone, over 139 LMT (lakh metric tonnes) of food grains have been allocated under PMGKAY between 2020-2022, incurring subsidy of over Rs. 43,000 crore.

The scheme has helped alleviate nutrition and food security issues for millions during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.

With its extension till 2028, the PMGKAY scheme will continue playing a pivotal role strengthening nutritional safeguards at an unprecedented scale.

Future Roadmap

Recently, the Union Cabinet approved extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) till 2028.

Earlier the scheme was set to end in December 2022, but now will complete a total of 7 years from its launch.

Over the next 5 years until 2027, PMGKAY will continue to provide extra rations – 5 kg per person per month – in addition to regular entitlements under NFSA.

India’s Roadmap to Enhancing Food Security

The National Food Security Act, the National Nutrition Strategy, and the National Nutrition Mission are some of the ambitious schemes launched by the government to promote convergent approaches that reflect the multidimensional nature of food and nutrition insecurity and address inequalities related to gender, age, disability, income, caste, and region.

The country strategic plan for 2023-2027 will continue to address national priorities in food and nutrition security through capacity strengthening for stakeholders and technical support for the strengthening of national social protection programs and government schemes.

The Indian government has been upgrading its transportation systems and supply chains to ensure sufficient domestic grain production and supplies. Digital technologies play an important role in the National Food Security Act, and India’s Aadhaar national identification system has been used to improve the efficiency and targeting of food-based social protection programs.

The Global Food Security Summit held in India in 2023 discussed current food security challenges and opportunities both globally and in India, India held the presidency of the Group of 20 (or G20) this year. The summit highlighted the need to build sustainable and inclusive food systems to achieve global food security.

USAID/India’s food security programs support development innovations that improve the lives of the rural poor in India and work to extend innovations proven in India to other countries.

The extension exemplifies PMGKAY’s importance as a key part of the government’s pro-poor agenda and food security commitments.

It will aid the constant effort towards Nutritional Security and upliftment of urban and rural BPL populations. With its coverage of over 80 crore citizens, PMGKAY is set to stand as a hallmark welfare measure for years to come.