In pursuance of the Centre's initiative to ensure food for all, Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday launched the National Food Security Ordinance (NFSO) 2013 commemorating the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.
As per the provisions of the Ordinance, a person belonging to priority households would be entitled to receive 5 kg of food grains per person per month at subsidised price. Supply of rice is to be made available to the eligible persons at the subsidised rate of Rs 3 per Kg and wheat for Rs 2 per Kg.
Launching the NFSO at Itanagar at a function, Chief Minister Nabam Tuki said that the Centre had earmarked 66.3 per cent of rural and 51.55 per cent of urban population in the state to be covered under this programme. "A total of 8.71 lakh people including 7.9 lakh rural population and 1.62 lakh urban population will be covered, recording an increase of almost 70 per cent of beneficiaries in comparison to 3,92,843 population under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) earlier purchasing rice under BPL and AAY scheme," he said.
"A country cannot progress with half of its citizens going hungry every other day. Ensuring a bowl of rice to the hungry stomach could be the best scheme ever introduced in the country which would serve as a panacea to many ills of our nation," Tuki said.
The population of 2011 census has been taken as the basis to calculate the percentage of coverage under priority household.
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