Parliament Question: National Food Security Act

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRiBUTION DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3217 TO BE ANSWERED ON lITll MARCH, 2026 NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT 3217. SHRI KHALILUR FLAHAMAN: Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION be pleased to state: (a): the details and the number of families covered under the National Food Security Act in the country, State-wise; and (b): whether there is an increase in the number of beneficiaries compared to the last three years and if so, the details thereof along with the cost to the exchequer during the last three financial years? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRIMATI NIMUBEN JAYANTIBHAI BAMBHANIYA) (a) & (b): The National Food Security Act, 2013, provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural population and upto 50% of the urban population, which at Census 2011 comes to 81.35 crore persons. A statement indicating the State/UT wise number of beneficiaries presently covered under the Act is at Annexure. States are undertaking cleaning up of their beneficiary database so that ineligible ration cards get deleted and better targeting of rightful beneficiaries is ensured. Thus, deletion of ineligible beneficiaries and addition of eligible beneficiaries under the Act is a continuous process and beneficiaries database is dynamic in nature. The Central Government reimburses the expenditure incurred by States, that have opted for Decentralized Procurement (DCP) mode for distribution of food-grains to the beneficiaries of Central Schemes as per allocation made by Government of India. Further, funds are also released by Food Corporation of India (FCI) to the States for the quantum of food-grains handed over to them by States for Central Pool. The difference between Economic Cost and Central Issue Price (CIP), at which foodgrains are issued to States, is reimbursed to Food Corporation of India (FCI) and DCP States as food subsidy. The food subsidy released to DCP States & FCI is made as per budgetary allocation made by Ministry of Finance (MoF). State wise funds are not allocated by MoFThe details of food subsidy released to FCI & DCP States during the last 3 years is as follows: - FCI* DCP States 1(in Rs. Crores) Financial Year Ms S a 2022-23 mo m2 m5 2023-24 139661.03 m7 m2 2024-25 129089.40 m7 199499.67 025-268 129080.90 n6 192535.13 8-as on 05.03.2026 In addition, funds are also released to States/UTs under the centrally spons'ored scheme “Assistance to state agencies for intra state movement of foodgrains & FPS Dealers margin under NFS A” for meeting the expenditure incurred by States/UTs for meeting expenditure on intra-state movement and handling of foodgrains and Fair Price Shop (FPS) dealers’ margin for foodgrains distributed to beneficiaries under the Act. The details of funds released to States/UTs during the last 3 years is as follows: - Financial Year FFund released (in crore) 022-23 m8 2023-24 m8 2024-25 B6 Im 025-26+ 8-as on 05.03.2026 kscscaseseANNEXU'RE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN PART (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3217 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 11.03.2026 REGARDING “NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT”. State/UT wise number of beneficiaries under NFSA 1SIIF • IIr 0 • 11SII t a t e 1\11 a rr1 e ::: : ::::: = =:C= SiTE:TIes identified under 1 1 1 A NDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS 61,334 2 1 ANDHRA PRADESH 2,68,20,046 J I ArtLlllrLL/l-lrLIJ rrtf\IJJEfID rl 8,71,000 4 1 A SSAM 2,48,94,794 5 1B IHAR 8,48,63,631 6 1 C HANDIGARH 3,42,954 7 1C HHATFISGARH 1 ,99,73,683 8 1 DADAR & NAGAR HAVELI & DAMAN & DIU 2,63,375 9 1D ELHI 72,20,350 10 1G OA 4,76,,303 11 1 G UJARAT 3,36,90,403 12 1 H ARYANA 1 ,26,49,DOO 13 1 HIMACHAL PRADESH 28,54,66 1 14 1 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 67,47, 172 15 1J HARKHAND 2,62,91, 129 16 1K ARNATAKA 4,01 ,93,243 17 1 KERALA ,50,65, 170 1 18 1 LADAKH 1 , 13,803 19 1L AKSHADWEEP 20 , 095 20 1 MADHYA PRADESH 5,38,07, 137 21 1 MAHARASHTRA 6,81 ,42,33722 MANIPUR 21,10,378 23 MEGHALAYA 21,36,855 24 MIZORAM 7,06,000 25 NAC,ALAND 11,35,570 26 ODISHA 3,23,78,964 27 PUDUCHERRY 6,34,000 28 PUNJAB 1,41,51,000 29 RAJASTHAN 4,39,80,284 30 SIKKIM 3,76,580 31 TAMIL NADU 3,64,70,000 32 TELANGANA 1 ,90,80,021 33 TRIPURA 23,34,864 34 UTrARAKHAND 60,23,384 35 UTrAR PRADESH 14,71,47,428 36 WEST BENGAL 5,99,75,666 Total 79,40,02,614