Free Rice: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to continue the free supply of fortified rice till the year 2028 with an outlay of Rs 17,082 crore under the Food Law and other welfare schemes. Fortified rice is considered important to solve anemia and micronutrient deficiency in people. This decision was taken in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The process of fortifying rice involves adding 'fortified' rice kernels (FRK) enriched with micronutrients (iron, folic acid, vitamin B12) as per the standards set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to regular rice (custom milled rice).

According to the official statement, the Cabinet has approved the continuation of the free supply of fortified rice under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana ( PMGKAY ) and other welfare schemes from July, 2024 to December, 2028.

Giving information about the decision taken in the cabinet, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the total financial plan for the supply of free fortified rice would be Rs 17,082 crore. The entire expenditure will be financed by the Central Government.

According to the statement, the initiative to fortify rice will continue as a central sector initiative. It will be 100 percent funded by the central government as part of PMGKAY (food subsidy), providing an integrated institutional mechanism for implementation.

It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked about the need for nutritional security in his address on the 75th Independence Day. The government has said that an initiative has been taken to supply fortified rice to all states and union territories (UTs) through Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), other welfare schemes, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), PM Poshan (formerly MDM).

In April 2022, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decided to implement the Rice Fortification Initiative across the country in a phased manner by March 2024. All three phases have been successfully completed and the target of providing fortified rice in all government schemes by March 2024 has been achieved.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) conducted between 2019 and 2021, anemia remains a widespread problem in India, affecting children, women, and men across different age groups and income levels, the government said in the statement.

It is known that many important decisions were approved in the Union Cabinet meeting held on October 3. In the meeting chaired by PM Modi, PM National Agricultural Development Scheme and Agricultural Unnati Scheme were approved. Apart from this, the National Mission on Edible Oil was also approved.