Food subsidy in the current financial year is most likely to be less than Rs 4 lakh croreNew Delhi: Food subsidy is likely to be less than Rs 4 lakh crore in the current financial year, compared to Rs 5.29 lakh crore of 2020-21, a leading authorities stated on Thursday.Food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told media individuals that the government is expecting bit less than Rs 4 lakh crore food aid this year, including that around Rs 2.25 lakh crore food subsidy is estimated for procurement and distribution of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and an extra Rs 1.47 lakh crore has actually been incurred for implementing the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), he said.Government provides highly subsidised foodgrains at Rs 1-3 per kg to over 81 crore people through the public distribution system (PDS) under NFSA.In addition to this, the government throughout the pandemic is also providing complimentary foodgrains to NFSA recipients under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY).

This plan has been extended numerous times and is now legitimate till March 2022.

Mr Pandey also stated the year 2021 was an amazing year for many reasons as the federal government made extraordinary efforts that were unprecedented in nature in the middle of the pandemic circumstances.One is that state-owned FCI carried out significant improvement modifications and there has also been 62 per cent development in the ethanol mixing program this year.

Ethanol blending with gas increased from 5 per cent to 8.1 percent in one year, the greatest ever, he said.Under the One Country, One Ration Card (ONORC), there has been over 50 crore portable transactions, which provided more than Rs 33,000 crore aid through foodgrains.