Parliament Question: Coverage under PMGKAY

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 366 TO BE ANSWERED ON 3RD FEBRUARY, 2026 COVERAGE UNDER PMGKAY 366 # SHRI DEEPAK PRAKASH: SHRI BRIJ LAL: SHRI MITHLESH KUMAR: SHRI MOKARIYA FLAMBHAI: SHRI BABUBHAI JESANGBHAI DESAI: SHRI RYAGA KRISHNAIAH: SMT. REKHA SHARMA: SHRI MAYANKKUMAR NAYAK: SHRI MADAN RATHORE: SHRI SUBHASH BARALA: SMT. KIFLAN CIIOUDHRY: SHRI LAHAR SINGH SIROYA: Will the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution be pleased to state: (a): the details of the coverage of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) since January 2024; (b): whether the expenditure on food for beneficiary families has come down; (C): the improvements made in terms of food consumption diversity and calorie intake; (d): the role of the said scheme in maintaining stability in domestic food security during the times of inflation; and (e): the State-wise and category-wise indicators thereoP ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA) (a) to (e): The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) being implemented in all the States/UTs aims to supplement the food requirements of upto 75% of the rural and upto 50% of the urban population, which at Census 2011 comes to 81.35 crore persons. (Continued)-2- States are undertaking updation of their beneficiary database so that bogus ration cards get deleted and better targeting of rightful beneficiaries is ensured. Thus, deletion of ineligible beneficiaries and addition of eligible beneficiaries is a continuous process. Due to this, the beneficiaries database is dynamic in nature. At present, against the intended coverage of 81.35 crore, 80.56 crore beneficiaries are receiving foodgrains free of cost. Under the PMGKAY, while Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households, which constitute poorest of the poor are entitled to 35 kg of foodgrains, per household per month, Priority Households (PHII) are entitled to 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month free of cost. The term “foodgrains” is defined as rice, wheat or coarse grains or any combination thereof conforming to such quality norms as may be determined, by order, by the Central Government from time to time. The Central Government, in order to remove the financial burden of the poor beneficiaries and to ensure nationwide uniformity and effective implementation of the programme for support of the poor, had decided to provide food grains free of cost to AAY & PHH beneficiaries, for one year from lst January 2023 under the PMGKAY. The period of distribution of free of cost foodgrains has been extended for further five years w.e.f 1 st January 2024. (Concluded)