The state government has fixed an upper limit of 2.5 million beneficiaries under the SFSS. At present, there are about 809,000 beneficiaries under the SFSS. The Centre has extended the free ration scheme till September this year under the PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana. Under this scheme, 5 kg free ration per person is given to the families of beneficiaries from April 2020. The scheme has been extended several times. The Odisha government too gives 5 kg of free ration under the SFSS to those not covered under PMGKY.
By doing this, the state widens the network of beneficiaries who get free ration.
Odisha is not alone. The UP government started giving an additional free 5 kg ration along with pulses, gram and flour, and refined oil to the existing beneficiaries the PMGKY, resulting in double ration to those beneficiaries. The scheme became a major attraction for voters and is believed to have played a major role in the poor voting for the BJP in large numbers. In the first major decision, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath has extended the scheme for three months till June.
However, the difference between Odisha and UP is that Odisha targets those who are not covered. In UP, the central beneficiaries get additional ration. There are 36.2 million ration card holders in UP, making for a total of about 15o million beneficiaries.
Other states such as Telangana, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal have also provided free ration during the pandemic. In some cases, like Bihar, it was for the initial few months of the pandemic. Most of these short-term schemes have ended with the easing of the pandemic. The Telangana government was giving 5 kg additional free ration to PMGKY beneficiaries from July 2020. It stopped the additional free ration from December last year.
The state government continues to provide a 6 kg ration per person at the rate of Rs 1 per kg, with no limit on the number of persons in the family
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