CM Urges PM to Withdraw Proposed Cut to AAY Ration Entitlements, Citing Rs 5,000-Crore Hit to 70 Lakh Poor

PRESS RELEASE Letter from Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru C. Joseph Vijay to Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Thiru Narendra Modi requesting reconsideration of the amendment proposed by the Union Government to the National Food Security Act, 2013 Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Thiru C. Joseph Vijay today (6.7.2026) wrote to Hon'ble Prime Minister of India Thiru Narendra Modi, requesting reconsideration of the amendment proposed by the Union Government to the National Food Security Act, 2013, in view of the impact it would have on the people of Tamil Nadu. Full text of the DO letter of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Thiru C. Joseph Vijay, addressed to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Thiru Narendra Modi, requesting reconsideration of the proposed amendment to the National Food Security Act, 2013: I am writing to bring to your kind attention a matter of serious concern to the people of Tamil Nadu arising from the draft National Food Security (Amendment) Bill, 2026, published by the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, on 24th June 2026. The draft Bill proposes to substitute the existing entitlement available to households covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) component of Section 3 of the National Food Security Act, 2013: - Existing provision: 35 kilograms of foodgrains per household per month, irrespective of the number of members in the family. - Proposed amendment: 7 kilograms of foodgrains per person per month, subject to an overall ceiling of thirty-five kilograms per household. The Government of India has explained that the intent is to remove intra-category inequities and align entitlements more closely with nutritional requirements. The practical effect, however, will be a substantial reduction in the quantum of foodgrains reaching the poorest households of Tamil Nadu, as the average family size in the State is only 3.54. Tamil Nadu presently has 18,64,600 AAY ration cards in circulation, covering 69,26,983 poor beneficiaries. These households are drawn from the most vulnerable sections of society, as defined under the Government of India's own eligibility guidelines — including families headed by widows, persons with disabilities and aged differently-abled persons, persons suffering from life-threatening illness, senior citizens above sixty years of age with no regular income for livelihood, tribal families, landless agricultural labourers, and daily-wage earners. These are precisely the households that the National Food Security Act was designed to protect through an assured, unconditional entitlement. The National Food Security Act was enacted by Parliament as a measure of last-resort protection for the poorest of the poor, and its entitlements were deliberately framed to be simple, unconditional and household-based, so that no family — regardless of size — is left without adequate foodgrains or made to suffer from hidden hunger and malnutrition. Converting this into a per-capita entitlement, capped at the household level, effectively penalises states with small family sizes, especially southern Indian states, which have effectively implemented the Government of India's family planning scheme. At present, 65,261 MT of coarse grains such as rice, wheat and ragi are allocated every month for AAY cardholders in Tamil Nadu, and this entire quantity is supplied by the Government of India free of cost. Once the proposed amendment takes effect, the Government of India's supply — computed on the seven-kilogram-per-person norm — would fall to approximately 42,040 MT, affecting the lives of more than seventy lakh poor, vulnerable and marginalised persons. Tamil Nadu has consistently maintained a robust and well-administered Public Distribution System, and has extended coverage and entitlements beyond Central norms wherever necessary, in keeping with its commitment to eliminating hunger and providing nutritional security to its people. Tamil Nadu is a predominantly rice-eating state, and virtually its entire population consumes rice — as idli, dosa or pongal for breakfast or dinner, and as a rice meal for lunch. The rice provided to AAY cardholders is an unavoidable staple in all three meals of their day and cannot be substituted with any other food commodity from the open market; if forced to do so, it would impose additional expense on them, driving them into poverty, malnutrition and hunger. It must also be noted that the burden of this amendment would fall disproportionately on states such as Tamil Nadu, where the number of AAY cardholders with a family size below 5 members is 15.75 lakh, covering a population of 58.51 lakh. Therefore, if the proposed amendment is brought into force without modification, the food security of nearly seventy lakh of its most vulnerable citizens would be jeopardised. The Government of India is therefore requested to reconsider the proposed amendment to the first proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the National Food Security Act, 2013, and to retain the existing entitlement of thirty-five kilograms of foodgrains per month for every household covered under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana, irrespective of the number of members in the family, as has been the position since the inception of the Act. I therefore trust that the concerns of the State, representing the interests of nearly seventy lakh of its poorest citizens, will receive your kind attention, leading to favourable action. Issued By: - DIPR, Secretariat, Chennai – 9