Guwahati: The Assam government has enrolled over 42 lakh new beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) and provided them with ration cards surpassing the cabinet’s earlier resolve to add 40 lakh new beneficiaries under the scheme.
“In the Assam Cabinet we resolved to enroll 40 lakh new beneficiaries under NFSA and provide them with ration cards”, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X (formerly Twitter), announcing the development, “I am happy to share that we have surpassed our target and enrolled 42 lakh new beneficiaries under this scheme”, he added in his post.
In May, a decision to enroll 40 lakh beneficiaries was taken during a state cabinet meeting held at Janata Bhawan in Guwahati.
Announcing the decision, Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah said that the upper-income limit for new ration card beneficiaries increased to Rs 4 lakh, while previously only people with an annual income of Rs 2.5 lakh were entitled to ration cards.
The National Food Security Act 2013, also known as the Right to Food Act, is an Indian Act of Parliament that aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two-thirds of the country's 1.4 billion people. According to state government data, the NFSA was implemented in Assam in December 2015.
According to the state government’s official portal, the total population benefitted under NFSA'13 in the state is 2.52 crore.
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