The Right to Food during the Pandemic: A Study of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
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Abstract
The COVID-19 epidemic, which has contaminated human life worldwide since late 2019, had a significant impact on food security. The disaster has damaged the food distribution system and endangered people's access to food. The crisis has led to the creation of low wages and high food prices, making it difficult for many people to afford food, and constrained the effort to meet the goal of zero hunger. In response to the economic disruptions caused by COVID-19, the Central Government, through the introduction of PMGKAY, nearly doubled the monthly food grain distribution to approximately 80 crore beneficiaries in the country, who fall under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), at no cost. This welfare scheme's scale makes it one of the world's major food security aids. The policy was effective to some extent since we have no authentic information, at least about massive calamities like famine and no ‘state has reported starvation deaths’. The PMGKAY was successful in preventing large-scale starvation deaths in India. The present study examines the PMGKY scheme's performance in meeting the urgency of the Indian public.