Lok Sabha Question No. 3523 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-22
Subject: Cut in Foodgrains Subsidy
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: Balubhau (Alias Suresh Narayan) Dhanorkar, Pradyut Bordoloi, T.N. Prathapan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3523

## To BE ANSWERED ON 22N0 MARCH, 2023

## CUT IN FOODGRAINS SUBSIDY

3523. SHRI BALUBHAU ALIAS SURESH NARAYAN DHANORKAR: SHRI PRADYUT BORDOLOI: SHRI T.N: PRATHAPAN:

Will the Minister of CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC

- (a) whether the Government has a substantial reason for opposing the Supreme Court's order to expand the beneficiaries under the food security given that number of people receiving the laws benefits is based on the now-outdated 2011.census, leaving at least 10 crore Indians excluded from the programme; Iaw,
- (b) if so, the facts in this regard;
- (c) the reasons for a cut of 31% in foodgrain subsidy for the poor from Rs. 2,87,194.05 crore in previous year's BE to Rs. 1,97,350 crore for FY 2023-24;
- whether the Food Corporation of India (FCI) is forced to opt for offin order to meet its requirement for current year's
- (d) budget  borrowings procurement; and
- (e)
- if the details thereof? ANS WE R MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a) & (b): In suo-motu Writ Petition (Civil) No 6 of 2020 regarding Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers, Hon'ble Supreme Court of India passed some directions vide its order dated 29.06.2021. Hon'ble Court inter-alia gave the directions that (The Central Government may undertake exercise under Section 9 of the National Food  Security Act, 2013 to re-determine the total number of persons to be covered under the Rural and Urban areas of the State "

Section 9 of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) provides that the percentage coverage under the Targeted Public Distribution System in rural and urban areas for each State shall be determined by the Central Government and the total number of persons to be covered in the State shall be calculated on the basis of the population estimates as per the census of which the relevant figures have been published: As at the time of implementation of NFSA, the latest published figures of Census pertained to the year 2011, the same was used to determine the coverage of all StateslUnion Territories (UTs):

The matter was taken up with the Registrar General & Census Commissioner of NITI Aayog and Ministry of Statistics &Programme Implementation (MoSPI): action revision of NFSA beneficiaries coverage can be taken once data from Household Consumption Expenditure Survey becomes available: Any

(c) to (e): In the wake of Covid-19 outbreak in the country in March 2020, the Department in pursuant to the announcement of the pro-poor #Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package" by the Government of India, had started the distributeon of 'additional' and 'free of cost' foodgrains to around 80 crore NFSA beneficiaries in the country under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana to ameliorate the food security hardships faced by the poor and needy due to unprecedented outbreak of the pandemic lockdowns and thus the economic disruptions caused across the country:

An amount of Rs.197000 crore has been allocated for the financial year 2023-24 as the effect of Covid-19 pandemic is almost over:

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