Question : NFSA Beneficiaries

(a) the estimated number of people in the country presently availing free rations under National Food Security Act (NFSA), State-wise;

(b) whether the Government is aware that nearly 1.97 crore poor particularly from the most vulnerable groups have been left out and a substantial number of duplicate and fake ration card holders are availing benefits;

(c) if so, whether the Union Government has asked States to launch a special drive to identify the most vulnerable groups and to extend benefits to the deserving;

(d) if so, the action taken by the States on Centre‘s directive, State-wise; and

(e) if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)
(a): The National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) provides for coverage of upto 75% of the rural and 50% of the urban population which at Census 2011 comes to 81.35 crore persons, for receiving highly subsidized foodgrains i.e. rice/ wheat/ coarse grains @ Rs.3/2/1 per kilogram respectively. At present, about 79.51 crore persons are covered under the Act across the country. A statement indicating the State/Union Territory-wise number of beneficiaries presently covered under the NFSA is at Annexure. In addition to the entitlement under the NFSA, these beneficiaries are also entitled to receive 5 kg of foodgrains (rice / wheat) per person per month, free of cost from May to November, 2021 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana to mitigate the impact of the Covid pandemic.
.....2/-
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(b) to (e): The National Food Security Act is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Governments. The responsibility of identification of eligible beneficiaries under the Act rests with the State Government as per the provisions of the Act. The Central Government has issued an advisory to all the States/Union Territories to identify all eligible and poor persons/ households including vulnerable Sections of the Society for inclusion under the NFSA. States are undertaking cleaning up of their beneficiary database so that bogus ration cards get deleted and better targeting of rightful beneficiaries is ensured. There is no report from any of the States/Union Territories regarding exclusion of nearly 1.97 crore poor particularly from vulnerable groups.

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ANNEXURE
ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.244 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 20.07.2021 IN THE LOK SABHA
State-wise number of beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act, 2013
Sl. No. States/ UTs No. of persons covered under NFSA
(in lakh)
1 Andhra Pradesh 268.22
2 Arunachal Pradesh 8.40
3 Assam 251.17
4 Bihar 871.16
5 Chattisgarh 200.77
6 Delhi 72.78
7 Goa 5.32
8 Gujarat 341.71
9 Haryana 126.49
10 Himachal Pradesh 28.64
11 Jharkhand 263.70
12 Karnataka 401.93
13 Kerala 154.80
14 Madhya Pradesh 482.58
15 Maharashtra 700.17
16 Manipur 18.60
17 Meghalaya 21.46
18 Mizoram 6.68
19 Nagaland 14.05
20 Odisha 324.33
21 Punjab 141.51
22 Rajasthan 440.01
23 Sikkim 3.79
24 Tamil Nadu 364.69
25 Telangana 191.62
26 Tripura 24.83
27 Uttar Pradesh 1471.92
28 Uttarakhand 61.94
29 West Bengal 601.84
30 A&N 0.61
31 DNH&DD 2.98
32 Lakshadweep 0.22
33 Chandigarh (DBT) 2.66
34 Puduchery (DBT) 6.24
35 J&K 72.41
36 Ladakh 1.44
Total 7951.69

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