Sonia Gandhi writes to PM Modi, seeks 10 kg grains for NFSA beneficiaries, other needy people till Sept

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday asked the government to provide 10 kg grains per person to beneficiaries of National Food Security Act till September this year.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she also demanded that 10 kg grains per person be provided free of cost for 6 months to those who may be facing food insecurity, but are not holding ration cards. These, she added, were primarily migrant labourers who did not have ration cards.

“the provision of 10 kg grains/person to NFSA beneficiaries must be extended for an additional period of 3 months i.e. till September, 2020. Given the chronic economic distress faced by these beneficiaries, the food entitlements may be provided free of cost. Secondly, 10 kg grains/person may be provided free of cost, for a period of 6 months, to those who may be facing food insecurity but not holding ration cards. I would like to bring to your notice that all migrant labour who have been facing acute distress may not be holding NFSA cards. In addition, many deserving people have been excluded from the NFSA lists”, the letter suggests.

She said lakhs of vulnerable people across the country face chronic food insecurity due to the lockdown.

This is tragic given that India has large buffer stock of food grains precisely for exigencies like the current pandemic, she said.

"The current crisis has pushed many relatively food secure families into food insecurity and poverty," she wrote to the prime minister.

"In our fight against the pandemic we must ensure that no one faces hunger," she said.