Jaipur, July 22 (IANS). The Rajasthan government has expanded the scope of food security coverage under the ‘National Food Security Act’ (NFSA) to more than 1 crore eligible beneficiaries. Officials have attributed the success to the state’s ‘Give Up’ campaign, under which economically capable beneficiaries voluntarily gave up their right to ration.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sumit Godara said that after about 93.5 lakh economically capable beneficiaries voluntarily left the NFSA benefits, 1,00,56,511 new eligible people have been brought under the ambit of food security.
Godara met Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma on Wednesday and thanked him for the initiative. He said that through this campaign the government has been able to provide food security to those needy families who were earlier outside the scheme.
He informed that based on the population criteria, there is a certain limit (about 4.46 crore) of the number of beneficiaries in Rajasthan under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Since the quota had already been reached, many eligible families were not able to avail these benefits.
To address this problem, the state government launched the ‘Give Up’ campaign on November 1, 2024, in which economically viable beneficiaries were encouraged to voluntarily give up their food security benefits.
Almost three months later, on January 26, 2025, the NFSA portal was reopened, giving eligible families the opportunity to apply to join the scheme. According to the minister, 87.6 lakh beneficiaries were added after the reopening of the portal, while 12.95 lakh people had already been included during the tenure of the current government, taking the total number of new beneficiaries to 1,00,56,511.
He described the expansion as one of the biggest social security initiatives in the state, which was made possible by the voluntary participation of 93.48 lakh beneficiaries who had given up their ration benefits.
Godara said the newly included beneficiaries are entitled to get 5 kg wheat per person under the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana’. They will also be eligible for the benefits of several welfare schemes of the state, including the Chief Minister LPG Subsidy Scheme, the Chief Minister Ayushman Accident Insurance Scheme and the Chief Minister Ayushman Arogya Yojana.
The Minister said that this initiative reflects the efforts of the State Government which aims to ensure that no eligible family is deprived of food security and other welfare benefits.
–IANS
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