Parliament: Centre Yet to Commit on Extending Free Foodgrains Under PMGKY After Dec 2022

New Delhi: The deadline for the free foodgrain scheme for 80 crore people, which was extended till December 2022, is nearing. However, the Centre on Wednesday failed to give a clear reply on if there would be further extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) under which the foodgrains are given free to poor families.

In a written reply to a question by Pushpendra Kr Chandel in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday on whether there is a proposal to further extend PMGKY, Piyush Goyal, Minister for Food and Public Distribution, listed details of how the scheme was started during the pandemic in March 2020 for distribution of 5kg foodgrains per person, per month, under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) over and above the monthly allocation to poor beneficiaries.

The PMGKY was initially announced for three months, till June 2020, which was later extended to November 2020.  The scheme has since then been extended in six phases – the last one being from October 2022 till December 2022.

However, Goyal’s written reply to the House gave details of the scheme but failed to mention if there was any proposal for further extension of PMGKY beyond December 2022.

Spyware Software

The Centre was non-committal on another question by Thirumaavalavan Thol with regard to it or any of the Central agencies using “any software or software system or any other equipment for lawful interception and monitoring”, the “details of the programme or scheme under which such procurement has been made and the total funds sanctioned and allocated for such procurement” if any.

Thol also asked “whether the Ministry has deployed the spyware software and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons of the spyware software being authorised in India when hacking is a criminal offence as per India’s law”.

In a written reply to these and other related questions in the Lok Sabha, the Minister for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, had this to say: “Lawful interception and monitoring is done by the authorized law enforcement agencies after due authorization by the Central or State Governments, under the provisions contained in sub-section (2) of section 5 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 read with Rule 419A of Indian Telegraph Rules, 1951 and section 69 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 read with the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for interception, Monitoring and Decryption of Information) Rules, 2009.”

9.79 Lakh Vacancies in Central Departments

There are around 9.79 lakh vacancies in the Central government for different posts and departments, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

As per Annual Report of Pay Research Unit of Department of Expenditure, 9,79,327 posts are vacant under various ministries/departments of the Central government, as on March 1, 2021, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.

In another reply, the minister said there were 1,472 vacant posts for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.

The state-wise sanctioned strength and the number of officers in position of IAS as per civil list 2022 is 6,789 and 5,317 respectively, he said.

Singh said, it is the endeavour of the central government to fill up the vacancies in the cadres.

Govt Spent Rs 168.8 Crore on Print, Electronic Media Ads

The government has spent Rs 91.96 crore on advertisements in print media through the Central Bureau of Communication so far in this financial year, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Tuesday.

The government has also spent Rs 76.84 crore on advertisements in electronic media, Thakur said in a written response to a question by CPI-M leader M Selvaraj in Lok Sabha.

In 2014-15, the government had spent Rs 424.84 crore on advertisements in print media and Rs 473.67 crore on electronic media advertisements through the Central Bureau of Communication, the minister said.

The expenditure was Rs 508.22 crore (print) and Rs 531.60 crore (electronic) in 2015-16; Rs 468.53 crore (print) and Rs 609.15 crore (electronic) in 2016-17; and Rs 636.09 (print) and Rs 468.92 (electronic) in 2017-18.

The expenses stood at Rs 429.55 crore (print) and Rs 514.28 crore (electronic) in 2018-19; Rs 295.05 crore (print) and Rs 317.11 crore (electronic) in 2019-20; and Rs 179.04 crore (print) and Rs 101.24 crore (electronic) in 2020-21.

Thakur said no expenditure was incurred on advertisements in foreign media through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

400 Died While Cleaning Sewers, Septic Tanks Since 2017: Govt

As many as 400 people have died while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewers and septic tanks since 2017, the government said on Tuesday.

Responding to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale said no death has been reported due to engaging in manual scavenging.

"However, 233 persons have died due to accidents while undertaking hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks during the last three years and current year," he said in a written response.

He gave data of number of such deaths recorded since 2017.

According to the data, 48 such deaths were recorded in 2022, 49 in 2021, 19 in 2020, 117 in 2019, 67 in 2018 and 100 in 2017.