GUWAHATI: Ahead of Assembly elections in Assam, the state’s BJP-led government on Monday launched a new scheme to provide ‘masur’ (lentils), sugar and salt at subsidised rates to families covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).
According to a government statement, each ration card holder family can purchase lentils at Rs 69, sugar at Rs 38 and salt at Rs 10 per kg per month, bringing the total cost to Rs 117. These rates will remain effective for November and December 2025.
January 2026 onwards, the prices of the three items will be further reduced to Rs 100 – lentils at Rs 60, sugar at Rs 30 and salt at Rs 10. The products will be available in specially designed one-kilogram packets.
Beneficiaries can buy these items during the ‘Anna Seva Divas’ between the first and tenth day of every month from fair price shops using e-PoS machines. For the current month, the items will be available from November 10 onwards. Beneficiaries can purchase one, two or all three items, with separate biometric authentication required for each.
Nearly 70 lakh families covering around 2.45 crore beneficiaries will benefit from the initiative, the statement said.
“By providing subsidised masur dal, sugar and salt to NFSA beneficiaries, we reaffirm our commitment to ensure that no family is left behind in Assam’s growth story. Antyodaya is our aim, objective and mission. With this, we have set a new benchmark in nutritional security for the ration card holders,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X.
After launching the scheme, he stated that the government had fulfilled every promise made over the past five years.
He announced that fair price shop dealers would receive Rs 2 per kilogram for distributing lentils, sugar and salt. He urged them not to collect any extra amount from the beneficiaries.
Highlighting the welfare measures undertaken so far and those planned for the future, Sarma said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ensured bank accounts for poor families and directly transferred LPG subsidies to them. Similarly, he added, during the Covid pandemic, the PM had provided free rice to all poor families which continued even today.
Assam is expected to go to polls in March or April next year.