67.47 lakh beneficiaries in J&K covered under NFSA: Centre

New Delhi, Mar 11: Around 67.47 lakh beneficiaries in Jammu & Kashmir and 1.13 lakh in Ladakh are currently covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, the Government of India informed Parliament on Wednesday.
Replying to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya said that the NFSA provides coverage to up to 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population, which as per the 2011 Census translates to 81.35 crore people across the country.
As per the official data, Jammu & Kashmir has 67,47,172 beneficiaries identified under the Act, while Ladakh has 1,13,803 beneficiaries receiving subsidised foodgrains through the public distribution system.
The government said that States and Union Territories regularly clean their beneficiary databases to remove ineligible ration card holders and add eligible families, noting that the beneficiary list under the NFSA remains dynamic in nature.
The Centre further said that the food subsidy is provided to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and states operating under the Decentralised Procurement (DCP) system to bridge the gap between the economic cost of foodgrains and the Central Issue Price (CIP) at which grains are supplied to beneficiaries.
According to the government, the food subsidy released stood at ₹1,39,661.03 crore in 2022-23, Rs 1,29,089.40 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 1,29,080.90 crore in 2024-25 for the distribution of foodgrains under central schemes.
Additionally, funds are also released to States and UTs under the centrally sponsored scheme “Assistance to State Agencies for Intra-State Movement of Foodgrains and FPS Dealers’ Margin under NFSA” to cover expenditure on transportation, handling and fair price shop dealer margins. (KNO)