New Delhi: Warning that ‘millions of Indians are at risk of slipping into poverty’, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to extend the provision of additional free food grain under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan package (PMGKP) for a period of another three months, as the initial three month period ends in June.
“The adverse impact on livelihoods has led to chronic food insecurity for both our urban and rural poor. In light of the current situation, food entitlements must be expanded to address the hunger crisis facing some of the most vulnerable people in the country,” the interim president of the Congress party wrote.
On March 26, when the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the PMGKP, she had said that as part of the package 800 million beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) would be provided 5 kilogram of grain (wheat or rice) over and above the usual allotment of 5 kilograms of grain per beneficiary. This, the government was to provide for a period of three months – April, May and June.
Now that that period is about to end and the loss of livelihood due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown remains for a large number of people, several states too have said that the free grain entitlement should be extended.
So far, ten states – including BJP-ruled states – have said that the additional allocation of food grain and pulses under the PMGKP should be extended.
Their representation has been forwarded by the Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ramvilas Paswan to the Prime Minister’s Office.
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In her letter, Gandhi also urged Modi to extend the benefit of 5 kilograms of grain to 80 million returning migrant workers that had been announced as part of the Atmanirbhar package for the months of May and June. These should also be extended till September, Gandhi has said.
In addition, she has also said that as a large number of ‘poor households’ are excluded from the public distribution system (PDS) – for a variety of reasons – temporary ration cards should be issued to such households and free grain provided to them too.
As per recent estimate by scholars Meghana Mungikar, Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera at least 108 million people are outside the PDS net because the population data used to calculate the number of beneficiaries is from the 2011 census and India’s population has grown by an estimated 150 million since then.