Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY)

What is Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana?

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) is a food security scheme that provides free foodgrains to beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). It is implemented by the Department of Food and Public Distribution and delivered through the country's network of fair price shops (ration shops).

According to the Government of India, from 1 January 2023 the entire NFSA foodgrain entitlement was made free of cost under PMGKAY, and the Union Cabinet later approved continuing the free foodgrains for a five-year period, from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2028. The scheme covers about 81.35 crore beneficiaries through more than 5.44 lakh fair price shops. The Cabinet put an estimated food subsidy of about Rs 11.80 lakh crore behind the five-year commitment, borne entirely by the central government, which makes PMGKAY one of the largest food security programmes in the world.

PMGKAY has a specific history worth understanding. The name was first used in April 2020 for the additional pandemic-era ration, an extra 5 kg of free grain over and above the normal NFSA quota. That additional allocation ran in phases until December 2022. From 1 January 2023 the government stopped charging for the regular NFSA entitlement itself and folded the whole thing under the PMGKAY banner, so that today the scheme means the entire monthly NFSA ration delivered free of cost, not a top-up.

Key objectives

• Ensure food security for the poorest households at no cost.
• Deliver free foodgrains to NFSA beneficiaries through the existing PDS network.
• Reduce the food-expenditure burden on low-income families.
• Improve nutrition by supplying fortified rice.

Main features

• Free foodgrains; no price is charged at the fair price shop.
• 35 kg per Antyodaya household and 5 kg per priority person each month.
• Delivered on the existing NFSA ration card, with no separate application.
• Runs from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2028.

Who is eligible for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana?

You are covered if:

• You hold a valid Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) or Priority Household (PHH) ration card under NFSA.
• Your ration card is active and linked to Aadhaar with e-KYC completed.

Because PMGKAY runs on the existing NFSA beneficiary list, being an NFSA ration card holder is itself the qualification: there is no fresh income test.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You do not hold a valid NFSA ration card, the scheme has no separate standalone enrolment of its own.
• You fall outside NFSA coverage under your state's exclusion criteria (for example, income-tax paying or well-off households that states keep out of NFSA).
• Your ration card is cancelled, duplicate, or e-KYC is not done, in which case entitlement is suspended until corrected.

To join, an uncovered family must first obtain an NFSA ration card from the state food and civil supplies department.

What documents are required for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana?

How to apply for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana

PMGKAY has no separate application. The benefit is automatic for NFSA ration card holders. The steps below explain how to start receiving the free foodgrains, including getting a ration card if you do not already have one.

1. Check your ration card: if you already hold a valid Antyodaya or Priority Household card, you are automatically entitled to free foodgrains.
2. If you do not have a card, apply for an NFSA ration card at your State or UT food and civil supplies department, online on the state PDS portal or at the local office.
3. Complete Aadhaar e-KYC for every family member on the card so the entitlement stays active.
4. Collect your monthly foodgrains free from your linked fair price shop after biometric authentication to 35 kg per Antyodaya household or 5 kg per priority person.

How much benefit does Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana provide?

PMGKAY provides foodgrains free of cost in the same quantity as the regular NFSA entitlement. Antyodaya Anna Yojana households receive 35 kg of foodgrains per household per month, and Priority Households receive 5 kg per person per month. Nothing is paid at the fair price shop.

The rice supplied under the scheme is fortified rice, enriched with iron, folic acid and vitamin B12, to help address anaemia and micronutrient deficiency. The Cabinet approved supplying fortified rice through PMGKAY and every other government welfare channel from July 2024 until December 2028, so the free grain a family collects now carries added micronutrients at no extra charge. The Government of India bears the full cost of the foodgrains, their fortification and their delivery through the public distribution system.

The exact grain a family receives; rice, wheat or a mix: depends on the state. Southern and eastern states are largely rice-drawing, while northern and western states draw more wheat. The state government fixes the rice-to-wheat ratio for each fair price shop based on local consumption and central allocation.

Can I collect PMGKAY ration in another state or district?

Yes. Every PMGKAY beneficiary is covered by One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC), the portability system that lets a ration card holder draw the entitlement from any electronic point-of-sale (ePoS) fair price shop anywhere in India. A migrant construction worker whose card is registered in Bihar can, for example, collect the family's free grain at a ration shop in Delhi or Mumbai by authenticating with Aadhaar biometrics on the shop's ePoS device.

ONORC also allows partial and split lifting — one part of the family can draw its share in the home village and another part can draw the rest at the migration destination in the same month. This portability is why Aadhaar seeding and e-KYC of every member matter: the ePoS machine recognises a member only if that person's Aadhaar is linked to the card.

Key dates for PMGKAY

• April 2020; PMGKAY first launched as additional free grain during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• December 2022. The pandemic-era additional allocation ended.
• 1 January 2023, the regular NFSA entitlement itself was made free under PMGKAY.
• 1 January 2024. The Cabinet's five-year free-foodgrain period began.
• July 2024: universal supply of fortified rice through PMGKAY approved.
• 31 December 2028, the current sanctioned period ends, unless extended.

How to check your PMGKAY / ration entitlement

1. Visit your state PDS / food and civil supplies portal and use the ration card search to view your entitlement and monthly transactions.
2. Check whether your Aadhaar e-KYC is complete for all members, since a pending e-KYC can hold up the entitlement.
3. Ask your fair price shop dealer for the current month's allocation against your card.

Common reasons free ration is stopped

• Ration card not linked to Aadhaar or e-KYC not completed. States have run repeated Aadhaar e-KYC drives, and cards where e-KYC is pending after the deadline are the most common ones deactivated.
• Card cancelled or flagged as duplicate or ineligible during verification.
• Family member not seeded with Aadhaar, so the ePoS machine counts fewer members and releases a smaller quantity than the family expects.
• Biometric authentication failure at the shop; worn fingerprints, a poor network or an old ePoS device. Most states allow OTP or Aadhaar face authentication as a fallback, or manual issue by the dealer with a reason recorded.
• Portability record not synced when collecting at a shop other than the linked one, which can briefly block a first-time out-of-state transaction.
• Ration not lifted for several consecutive months, which some states treat as a signal to review or suspend a card.

If your card is deactivated for pending e-KYC, complete e-KYC at any fair price shop or the state PDS portal and ask the district supply officer to reactivate it. Grain missed while a card was suspended is generally not paid retrospectively, so acting quickly matters.

Help and grievance redressal

• NFSA / PDS national toll-free helpline: 1967
• Public Distribution System helpline: 1800-11-2100
• State food and civil supplies department: for ration card issues, e-KYC and fair price shop complaints.
• State-specific PDS toll-free numbers, printed on the fair price shop board and the state PDS portal, for shop-level complaints such as short weight, a shop staying closed or a dealer demanding payment.
• CPGRAMS (pgportal.gov.in) for a written grievance against a shop or official that carries a tracking number.

PMGKAY foodgrains are free. No fair price shop dealer may charge you for the grain covered under the scheme, and ration card services from the state department do not require any agent.