Union Budget 2023: What is PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana? Check Details And Eligibility.

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PM-GKAY) is a social welfare scheme launched by the government of India in April 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It aims to provide financial assistance to the economically weaker sections of society affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The scheme includes the distribution of food grains to eligible households and cash transfers to women and elderly individuals. The scheme was implemented as part of the larger Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, which aimed to provide relief to those affected by the pandemic, particularly the poor and marginalized. 

The scheme is intended to help mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic on the most vulnerable sections of the population, and provide support for their basic needs.

As per the scheme, the government offers 5 kg of free food grains each month in addition to subsidized ration given to families covered by the Public Distribution System under the National Food Security Act. 

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In January 2023, the Center merged PM-GKAY with the National Food Security Act till December 2023. In the Union Budget 2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the central government would cover Rs 2 lakh crore under the PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for the entire year of 2023.
More than 80 crore people have benefited from the scheme till now. 

PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana: Eligibility

Below are the eligibility criteria to avail the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana:

• Families belonging to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH) categories will be eligible for the scheme.
• PHH is to be identified by State Governments/Union Territory Administrations as per criteria evolved by them. AAY families are to be identified by States/UTs as per the criteria prescribed by the Central Government:
• Households headed by widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more with no assured means of subsistence or societal support.
• Widows or terminally ill persons or disabled persons or persons aged 60 years or more or single women or single men with no family or societal support or assured means of subsistence.

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• All primitive tribal households.
• Landless agriculture laborers, marginal farmers, rural artisans/craftsmen such as potters, tanners, weavers, blacksmiths, carpenters, slum dwellers, and persons earning their livelihood on daily basis in the informal sector like porters, coolies, rickshaw pullers, hand cart pullers, fruit and flower sellers, snake charmers, rag pickers, cobblers, destitute and other similar categories in both rural and urban areas.
• All eligible Below Poverty Line families of HIV-positive people. 

(Note: Eligibility criteria points taken from the government website)

The scheme can be availed of by all ration card holders under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

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