NEW DELHI: The poor are set to get a sweet deal. The government is likely to revive providing one kg sugar per month at subsidised rate to 2.5 crore poorest of the poor families. This will cost the government little over Rs 500 crore annually, a government source said. The food ministry under Ram Vilas Paswan has sent a proposal seeking cabinet nod to supply one kg sugar per family at Rs 13.50 and the Centre will bear the subsidy of about Rs 18.50 per kg. "We are hopeful of a decision soon. This will bring relief to families falling under the Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY), who are at the end of the ladder as far as their financial status is concerned. It will not be a major financial burden, but will send a strong message," an official said.
Antodaya, uplifting the poorest one, has been the core of many programmes launched by the Narendra Modi government, including the PM Aawas Yojnaand urban and and rural livelihood mission to name a few.
In the 2017-18 budget, the government did away with the sugar subsidycomponent under the public distribution system (PDS) amounting to around Rs 4,500 crore for the current financial year. The subsidised PDS sugar was supplied to nearly 40 crore beneficiaries of below poverty line (BPL) families. This required about 2.7 million tonnes of sugar per annum. The sugar subsidy was discontinued since all the states have already rolled out the food security law, under which there is no distinction of categories of beneficiaries as BPL. But the food ministry had pushed for continuing the central subsidy at least for the poorest families. Last year, the government had also prepared a plan to assess the financial implications of providing free foodgrains to AAY families across the country.
At present, AAY families get 35 kg of foodgrains per household per month while the rest of the people covered under the food security law (priority families) get 5 kg per person per month.