Cabinet nod to bill to repeal 3 Farm Laws
NEW DELHI, Nov 24: The Union Cabinet today approved a proposal to extend distribution of 5kg foodgrains per month for free under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to over 80 crore ration card holders for four months till March 2022, a decision that will cost an additional Rs 53,344 crore to the exchequer.
Free foodgrains under the PMGKAY scheme, which was announced in March last year to provide relief to poor people during the COVID pandemic, is over and above the normal quota provided under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 2-3 per kilogram.
Briefing about the decision, I&B Minister Anurag Thakur said the Cabinet has extended the PMGKAY programme by four months till March 2022.
This will cost an additional Rs 53,344 crore to the exchequer, he said, adding that the total cost of PMGKAY would reach about Rs 2.6 lakh crore, including all five phases of this ongoing programme.
In the wake of economic disruptions caused by the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 in the country last year, the Government had in March 2020 announced the distribution of additional free-of-cost foodgrains (rice/wheat) to about 80 crore National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries
The Phase-I and Phase-II of this scheme were operational from April to June 2020 and July to November 2020, respectively.
The Phase-III of the scheme was operational from May to June 2021, while Phase-IV of the scheme is currently operational for July-November, 2021.
“The PMGKAY scheme for Phase V from December 2021 till March 2022 would entail an estimated additional food subsidy of Rs 53,344.52 crore,” an official statement said.
The total outgo in terms of foodgrains for PMGKAY Phase V is likely to be about 163 lakh tonnes.
So far, under the PM-GKAY (phase I to IV), the Centre has allocated a total of almost 600 lakh tonnes of foodgrains to the states/UTs, equivalent to about Rs 2.07 lakh crore in food subsidy.
“Overall, the Government will be incurring an expenditure of nearly Rs.2.60 lakh crore in PMGKAY Phase I- V,” the statement said.
As per the reports from the states/UTs so far, 93.8 per cent of foodgrains have been lifted.
Nearly 37.32 lakh tonnes (93.9 per cent of July 2021), 37.20 lakh tonnes (93.6 per cent of August 2021), 36.87 lakh tonnes (92.8 per cent of September 2021), 35.4 lakh tonnes (89 per cent of October 2021), and 17.9 lakh tonnes (45 per cent of November 2021) foodgrains have been distributed to about 74.64 crore, 74.4 crore, 73.75 crore, 70.8 crore and 35.8 crore beneficiaries, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet also approved a bill to repeal the three farm laws, which triggered protests at Delhi borders by thousands of farmers, and will be tabled in Parliament during the upcoming winter session for passage.
On November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation had announced the withdrawal of the three farm laws, saying the Government could not convince protesting farmers about the benefits of the agriculture sector reforms. He had also urged them to end the protest and return home.
The Cabinet has approved the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 to rollback the three laws passed by Parliament in September last year, with an objective to bring reforms in the agriculture sector, especially marketing of farm produce.
The three laws to be repealed are: Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.
The Cabinet has completed the formalities to repeal the three farm laws, I&B Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters.
“In the upcoming session of Parliament, it will be our priority to take back these three laws,” he said.
The winter session will begin on November 29, and conclude on December 23.
The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 has been approved days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to repeal the three Central farm laws. Besides this, Parliament is scheduled to take 25 other bills, including one on crypto currencies.
The repeal of the three farm legislations has been one of the key demands of around 40 farmer unions protesting against these reforms for nearly a year now.
These laws, which are under suspension following a Supreme Court order in January this year, had triggered widespread protests by thousands of farmers mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh at Delhi borders. (PTI)
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