Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday addressed the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana and said this scheme has reduced the worries of the poor and increased their confidence.
"Today, under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the free ration is being distributed to lakhs of families of Gujarat. This free ration reduces the worries of the poor in this time of the global pandemic and increases their confidence," said the Prime Minister.
"After independence, almost every government had talked about providing reasonably priced food to the poor. The scope and budget of reasonable ration schemes increased year after year, but the effect it should have had remained limited."
Recalling his past experience, Prime Minister said earlier the country's food reserves kept increasing, but hunger and malnutrition did not decrease in that proportion. "One major reason for this was the lack of an effective delivery system. To change this situation fresh work was started after 2014," said PM Narendra Modi.
"Today, in addition to the quota of wheat at Rs 2/kg, rice at Rs 3/kg, 5 kg of wheat and rice is being given free to every beneficiary. That is, almost double the amount of ration is being provided to the ration card holders than before this scheme. This scheme is going to last till Diwali," said the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister in his address also said that "empowerment of the poor" is being given top priority today.
"Today the country is spending lakhs of crores on infrastructure, but at the same time, to improve the quality of life of common human beings, it is also setting new benchmarks for Ease of Living. Empowerment of the poor is being given top priority today," said PM Modi.
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana is a food security welfare scheme that was envisaged by the Prime Minister to provide assistance and help mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat Nitinbhai Patel also attended the event.
( With inputs from ANI )
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