Cabinet approves Additional allocations for the BPL and APL families in non NFSA State

No: --- Dated: Jun, 01 2016

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for additional monthly allocation of 41,800 tonnes of foodgrains for the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families at BPL rates and 20,507 tonnes of foodgrains for Above Poverty Line (APL) families at 2/3rd of Minimum Support Price (MSP) rates to three non-National Food Security Act (NFSA) States, namely, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Nagaland, from April to June, 2016 or till implementation of NFSA by the respective State, whichever is earlier. 

Background: 

NFSA has come into force from 05.07.2013 and it provides for coverage of two-third population of the country, based on the population estimates of 2011 for receiving wheat at Rs.2 per kg and rice at Rs.3 per kg. It was expected that the Act would be implemented in all the States/UTs by March, 2016 and beneficiaries under Targeted Public Distribution Systems (TDPS) would get highly subsidized foodgrains. Accordingly, during 2015-16 non-NFSA States/UTs were allocated additional foodgrains for BPL and APL families upto March, 2016. 33 States/UTs have implemented NFSA so far and three States, namely, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Nagaland are still getting allocation of foodgrains under the erstwhile TPDS. These States are in the process of implementation of NFSA in the coming months.