Author: Ashok Singhal
Publication: Indiatoday.in
Date: April 6, 2022
URL:      https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/pm-modi-food-security-scheme-pmgkay-extreme-poverty-imf-study-1934080-2022-04-06

An IMF study — Pandemic, Poverty, and Inequality: Evidence from India — has stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s food security scheme, PMGKAY, prevented a rise in extreme poverty in India.

A study by the International Monetary fund has found that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s food security project — the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana — has been critical in preventing any increase in extreme poverty levels in India during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new IMF paper — Pandemic, Poverty, and Inequality: Evidence from India — found that extreme poverty (with purchasing power parity of less than USD 1.9 per person per day) in India was less than 1% in 2019 and it remained constant even during the pandemic in 2020.

“PMGKAY was critical in preventing any increase in extreme poverty levels in India and the doubling of food entitlements worked substantially in terms of absorbing the Covid-induced income shocks on the poor,” the report stated.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) till September 2022. Under the PMGKAY, free food grain is provided to those in need.

“A low level of extreme poverty for two consecutive years, including one marked by the pandemic, can be considered as elimination of extreme poverty,” it read.

The report stated that pandemic shock is largely a temporary income shock and that temporary fiscal policy interventions have been fiscally appropriate to absorb a large part of it.

Consumption growth, an important determinant of poverty, was found to be higher in 2014-19 than the robust growth observed in 2004-2011.