Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) secretary Arvind Mayaram said that the government will be able achieve the fiscal deficit target of 4.8 percent of GDP in the current financial year even if the Food Security programme is implemented this year as it had already allocated Rs 77,740 crore for food subsidy in the budget estimates and has kept additional Rs 10,000 crore over the normal food subsidy, towards an incremental cost.
By adding further, Mayaram said that the finance ministry had already cleared that there are red lines for country’s fiscal deficit, which would never be breached and shall be maintained at 4.8 percent. Meanwhile, in the FY13, India’s fiscal deficit recorded at 4.89% of GDP, which was lower than the budget estimate of 5.2%, had been contained due to higher non-tax revenue and savings of non-planned expenditure.
Recently, the government has decided to implement Food Security programme to give nation's two-third population the right to get 5 kgs of foodgrains every month per person at highly subsidised rates of Rs 1-3 per kg. As per the food security bill, the programme will cost around Rs 1,25,000 crore annually for the government to supply around 62 million tonnes of rice, wheat and coarse cereals to 67 percent of the population. The scheme is likely to take at least six months to cover the entire country.
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