Scope for 1.24 crore more beneficiaries under NFSA: minister

The NFSA provides for coverage of up to 75 per cent of rural population and up to 50 per cent of urban population, which at Census 2011 figures comes to 81.35 crore persons.

Against this intended coverage of 81.35 crore beneficiaries, the states and UTs have identified 80.11 crore beneficiaries till July 19, 2023, show the data shared by Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

As per the data, there is a scope to identify 1.24 crore additional beneficiaries under the food security law across 21 states and UTs — Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Odisha, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar islands, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu and Chandigarh.

Of the total 36 states and UTs, 15 have identified 100 per cent beneficiaries. These are — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Lakshadweep, Puducherry and Ladakh.

The NFSA, which was enacted by the then UPA government, entitles beneficiaries covered under it to buy foodgrains at a subsidised rate — rice Rs 3/kg, wheat Rs 2/kg and nutria-cereals Rs 1/kg. However, the NDA government, last year, decided to provide foodgrains free of cost to eligible households for a year.

“Every person belonging to priority households, identified under sub-section (1) of Section 10, shall be entitled to receive 5 kilograms of foodgrains per person per month at subsidised prices specified in Schedule I from the state government under the Targeted Public Distribution System: Provided that the households covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana shall, to such extent as may be specified by the Central government for each State in the said scheme, be entitled to 35 kilograms of foodgrains per household per month at the prices specified in Schedule I,” states the Section 3(1) of the NFSA.