Karnataka is one of the biggest partners of this project. More than four crore poor people of karnataka are benefiting from free rice scheme every month. The central government is supplying a total of 2,00,965 tonnes of food grains every month to the beneficiaries in Karnataka. That was the time when Corona had just entered India. Realizing the danger of this virus spreading very quickly in India, the most populous country, the indian government decided to announce a lockdown everywhere at once. prime minister Narendra Modi called on everyone to stay home on Sunday, mentally preparing people for the months ahead. For the next week, the entire country was locked in lockdown. No one can go anywhere. The masses were dismayed to hear the order to stay in their homes. From the daily wage laborers who used to work daily to get enough food, everyone is worried about what they will have for lunch tomorrow.
But the prime minister had this estimate while announcing the lockdown for the entire country. He also knew that many people would suffer from hunger if they could not leave their homes. He had announced the lockdown thinking of a solution to this. Along with the announcement of lockdown, he also announced free rice for the poor. In this way eighty crore people of the country avoided fasting. It was later recognized as the largest project in the world. This is the story of the 'Pradhanmantri Garib Kalyana Anna Yojana' (PRAOGA). Through this scheme, the central government has been providing free rice to eighty crore poor people of the country since last four years. Anna Yojana is one of the most important schemes of Modi government and has directly reached the people. At the beginning of this scheme i.e. in the initial days of the lockdown, when the scheme was announced, the central government was responsible for delivering food grains to every beneficiary. In a country with a population of 130 crores, the challenge of delivering food grains to three-quarters of its population is enormous. While the challenge of delivery to every corner of the country is one, delivery to the deserving through authorized distribution centers is another. At that time each state also had a separate ration card. So the Modi government brought in one country one ration card scheme and ensured that no poor person in the country gets cheated by this scheme.
Before the Modi government decided to provide free rice and wheat to all through the Pradhan Mantri Anna Yojana, beneficiaries of Antyodaya Anna Yojana and priority family ration card holders were getting food grains at below market rates under the Food Security Act. That means Antyodaya family had 30 kg per month and Adhyaya family had 5 kg of food grains per person. The Modi government started providing five kg of rice or wheat per person per month in addition to the food grains available under the Food Security Act through the Garib kalyan Anna Yojana. A family of four started getting 30 kg grains every month completely free and at a discounted rate of 20 kg.
Initially started for a period of three months, this project has been extended a total of seven times till december 2022 and has continuously provided free food to the poor even after the Corona period. This free food supply scheme, which was started in order to deal with the hardships of the Corona period, has been extended by the Modi government from january 2023 for another year i.e. until december 2023. The central government has spent a total of Rs 3.91 lakh crore for this scheme in seven phases from march 2020 to december 2022. In addition, 1121 lakh tonnes of food grains have been supplied. In 2023, the estimated expenditure for this project is two lakh crore. Such a meaningful and timely project has been recorded as the largest project in the world. karnataka is one of the biggest partners of this project. More than four crore poor people of karnataka are benefiting from this free rice scheme every month. This means that three out of five people are beneficiaries of this scheme. The central government is supplying a total of 2,00,965 tonnes of food grains every month to the beneficiaries in Karnataka. That means 24,11,580 tonnes of food grains are being supplied per year. Even though the central government is supplying free rice on such a large scale, the poor people are getting it, so many people are not aware of this scheme. Because the state governments are leading this project under a different name or with their photo. Even in karnataka, recently when the state government was criticizing the central government for failing to fulfill its pre-election rice guarantee, the people came to know that the central government was giving five kg of rice to each person every month.
This project, which started as a solution to the crisis during the Covid period, has been continued by the central government for the fourth consecutive year even after the end of the Covid, and is supplying food grains to more than eighty crore people of the country free of cost. Two lakh crores for this. Estimated cost.
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