Antodaya Anna Yojana was launched in the year 2000, aiming to reduce hunger among the poorest segments of the BPL population.
Need for the Scheme: A National Sample Survey Exercise pointed towards the fact that about 5% of the total population in the country sleeps without two square meals a day. It was launched to provide food to one crore poorest of the poor families.
Objective: It involved identification of one crore poorest of the poor families from amongst the number of BPL families covered under Targeted PDS to provide them with highly subsidized food grains at a rate of Rs.2/- per kg. for wheat and Rs.3/- per kg for rice. The overall coverage of AAY is 2.5 crore households (i.e. 38% of BPL).
