The Union government announced today that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY ) which was launched as a public welfare response to the COVID19 pandemic has now been extended till March 2022.

Launched in April, last year, the first phase of the food grain distribution scheme lasted till June which was extended till November (second phase). The scheme was reintroduced as the third phase in May, 2021 during the second wave of the COVID19 and lasted till June. The scheme was extended as the fourth phase in July and was set to lapse in the ongoing month. Today’s announcement marks the launch of the fifth phase of the scheme.

“The PMGKAY scheme for Phase V from December 2021 till March, 2022 would entail an estimated additional food subsidy of Rs. 53344.52 Crore,” the Press Information Bureau statement announced.

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“The distribution under PMGKAY-IV is presently ongoing, and as per the reports available from States/UTs so far, 93.8% foodgrains have been lifted and nearly 37.32 LMT (93.9% of July’21), 37.20 LMT (93.6% of Aug’21), 36.87 LMT (92.8% of Sept’21), 35.4 LMT (89% of Oct’21) and 17.9 LMT ( 45% of Nov’21) foodgrains have been distributed to about 74.64 Crore, 74.4 Crore, 73.75 Crore, 70.8 Crore and 35.8 crore beneficiaries respectively,” it added.

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The cabinet statement further informed that Union government will be incurring an expenditure of nearly Rs.2.60 lakh crore in PMGKAY Phases I- V.