The Centre on Tuesday said about 2.65 lakh tonnes of food grains were distributed free of cost to migrant workers during May-August under the 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' package. An average of 2.65 crore migrant workers per month benefited from the scheme during May and June.
The Centre offered 5 kg of food grains per person per month for May and June. "…about 2.65 lakh tonnes of food grains has been successfully distributed under the scheme up to August 31 by all States/UTs combined, covering 2.35 crore persons in May, over 2.48 crore persons in June, about 31.43 lakh persons in July and nearly 16 lakh migrant persons in August (About 2.65 crore person on an average per month for the months of May and June respectively)," an official statement said.
In wake of the situation created by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre in May had announced a set of economic measures under the 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' package to help mitigate the problems of the migrant workers. To help maximum number of migrants/stranded migrants, and all those who were neither covered under NFSA (National Food Security Act) nor under any other state public distribution scheme (PDS) scheme, the Union Food Ministry had allocated about 8 lakh tonnes of food grains to all states/UTs under the package for free of cost distribution.
This was subject to numbers of such 'target group' on the ground and this assessment was immediately made by the states and union territories (UTs) by the end of May while going through the process of distribution. The responsibilities of identification of eligible migrants/stranded migrants and other needy persons and subsequently distribution of food grains to them under this scheme was given to state/UT governments.
They collectively indicated a total population of about 2.8 crore who could potentially benefit from distribution of free of cost food grains under the 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat' package. Although states had lifted 6.38 lakh tonnes of grains till June from the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the requirement was found to be about 2.8 lakh tonnes.
The Centre had extended the validity of the scheme till August, giving more time to states/UTs to distribute food grains quota to migrants for May-June months. About 17 states/UTs were able to utilise 80 per cent or more food grains in relation to their assessment.
These states/UTs are Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu And Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, the statement said.
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