PM announces free ration for 80 cr people for five more months till Nov end

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), a programme to provide free ration for over 80 crore people, mostly poor, by five more months till November end.

In a televised address to the nation, the prime minister said over Rs 90,000 crore will be spent on the programme’s extension, and if the last three months expenditure on account of the free ration scheme is added then the total budget will be about Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

The scheme was rolled out for three months from April soon after the nationwide lockdown was announced to combat the COVID-19. Modi noted that July marks the beginning of the festive season when people’s needs as well as expenditure increase.

“Keeping all these things in mind, it has been decided to extend Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana up to Diwali and Chhath Puja till the November end,” Modi said on the eve of the start of ‘Unlock-2’ for a graded exit from the national lockdown that was imposed on March 25. ‘Unlock-1’ ends on Tuesday.