Raipur, 10 October 2021. Free rice is being distributed by the Chhattisgarh government to 58.91 lakh families of the state from May 2021, which will continue till November 2021, while the Government of India will provide only 51.20 lakh Antyodaya and priority ration card holders in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. Under this, rice has been allotted free of cost. It is clear from this that the state government is distributing more rice than the allocation received from the center in the state of Chhattisgarh and the subsidy of rice being distributed extra is being borne by the state government.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana from the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, the ration card holder families of the state covered under the National Food Security Act have received an additional allocation of 5 kg rice per member from the month of May 2021 to November 2021, which is being distributed. Is. Under the National Food Security Act, allocation of the above rice has been received for 2 crore members included in 51.20 lakh ration cards of the state, while all 68.63 lakh ration cards are in force in the state. Under the National Food Security Act, 7.19 lakh ration cards have been issued to the priority families under the Antyodaya Yojana and the remaining 44.01 lakh ration cards in the state approved by the Government of India.
According to Section 3(1) of the National Food Security Act, the eligibility of 35 kg of food grains per month for Antyodaya family and the monthly entitlement of food grains for priority ration card holders is 5 kg per member. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, for the above two categories of ration cards, an additional allocation of 1,00,385 tonnes of rice is being provided for each month from May 2021 to November 2021 in the current financial year 2020-21. Which is being distributed to the members included in these ration cards.
Apart from the normal monthly entitlement of 35 kg rice to all the ration card holder families of Antyodaya Anna Yojana, 5 kg additional food grains are being provided to each member included in these ration cards per month. Normal and additional allocation is being distributed every month to the priority ration card holders as per the eligibility prescribed in the National Food Security Act 2013. Ration material is being distributed to the ration card holders of the state from the month of May 2021 by adding additional foodgrains issued by the Government of India under the National Food Security Act 2013 for Antyodaya and general family and the additional food grains issued by the Government of India under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
In view of the second wave of Kovid in the state, free distribution of rice is being done by the state government to the poor and needy ration card holders during the month of May to November 2021, while the rice issued by the Government of India to the state for this period under the National Food Security Act. The supply rate is Rs.3 per kg. In this way, a subsidy of Rs 97 crore will be given by the state government on the free rice distributed from the month of May to the month of September 2021.
From the month of May 2021 to the month of September 2021, out of the total allocation of 10.78 lakh tonnes of rice received from the Government of India under the National Food Security Act and under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, distribution of 10.56 lakh tonnes of rice as per the eligibility prescribed by the Government of India National Food Security families covered under the Act. During the same period, 1.12 lakh tonnes of free rice has been distributed on the additional ration cards prevalent in the state, whose expenditure is being borne by the state government. Apart from this, 1.30 lakh tonnes of rice has been distributed to the general APL families at subsidized rate during this period, the subsidy of which is also being borne by the state government.
