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The Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution has appreciated the government's efforts to cut the Bill on food subsidy during 2021-22 in comparison to 2020-21. However, the Committee feels that food subsidy is still very high and there is still scope to reduce it further. It noted that allocation of funds - in respect of food subsidy during 2021-22 is Rs 2,90,573.11 crore but actual expenditure as on February 11, 2022, is Rs 2,20,445.61 crore only i.e. 76 per cent of allocation.

The Committee urged the department to optimize the food subsidy bill without compromising the demands of beneficiaries as well as being prepared for addressing unwarranted situations like the COVID-19 pandemic in future by preparing a backup plan. The panel also regretted that after 24 years of launching of Decentralized Procurement Scheme (DCP), the same has been adopted by only nine States/UTs for wheat and 16 States/UTs for rice. It suggested that the department should make earnest efforts to motivate the remaining States to adopt the scheme.

The committee applauded the government for launching Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to provide an additional allocation of food-grains from the central pool at 5 kg per person per month free of cost for all the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for a total period of 19 months during the year 2020-21 and 2021-22. It asked the department to make an objective assessment to find out the impact of this scheme on beneficiaries and how long it needs to be continued further.