In order to strengthen food security for marginal sections of society, Lieutenant Governor Shri Manoj Sinha rolled out ‘Prime Minister’s Food Supplementation for Priority Households Scheme’ for UT of Jammu Kashmir, today.
Interacting with media persons, the Lt Governor said the scheme would ensure accessibility, affordability and availability of adequate quantity of food to Priority Households.
Presently, under Antyodaya Anna Yojana, 35 kg food grains per household is provided to 2.29 lakh households in UT, benefitting the poorest of the poor. Also, 5 kg food grains per person to Priority Households (PHH) beneficiaries are provided free of cost, he said.
The Lt Governor said, currently, in PHH Category, there are 14.32 Lakh Ration Card holders with around 57.24 lakh beneficiaries in J&K. New scheme will augment the monthly food availability to PHH category on a subsidized rate while ensuring it does not exceed 35 kg per household.
He informed that the augmentation was discontinued last year after Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS-D) run by Government of India was discontinued. It has now been revived at revised price. In order to remove financial burden of poor families and ensuring access to food and nutritional security, a new scheme has been launched, he said.
Under new scheme a PHH with one beneficiary will get an additional allocation of 5 kg and a PHH with beneficiaries ranging from 2-5 will get an additional 10 kg, each month while maintaining maximum allocation per household.
For the additional allocation, J&K Government will procure the rice from Government of India at Rs.34 per kg and it will be provided to the beneficiaries at Rs.25 per kg, thus ensuring subsidy of Rs.9 per kg. The new scheme will incur a financial implication of over Rs. 180 Crore a year.
The Lt Governor also said that as and when the Government of India restarts sale of wheat under OMSS (D), the UT administration will include wheat in the scheme.
