New Delhi: Dousing speculation on a COVID-19 vaccine or a definitive announcement of India’s stance regarding China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address on June 30, said that the government was going to extend the free ration scheme till the end of November.

As the prime reason behind the extension of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, Modi mentioned that the calendar would be seeing a number of festivals. He named several Hindu festivals, along with August 15 and Guru Purnima, to illustrate the point and said that the Yojana would continue till Diwali and Chhath. Several noted on social media the marked absence of the mention of Eid ul-Adha, a Muslim festival in late July, and Guru Purab, observed by Sikhs, in late November.

Commenters on social media have mentioned how Chhath is primarily celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh, among which states, Bihar is going to polls in October-November this year.

Tuesday’s speech, at 16 minutes, was one of the shortest addresses by the prime minister.

“As many as 80 crore people will get free rations…five kilos of rice or five kilos of wheat, and in addition, each household will receive a kilo of whole grams per month,” he said, adding that the extension would cost the government Rs 90,000 crore.

Under this scheme which was announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26, 80 crore ration card holders in the country were entitled to 5 kilogram of grain (wheat or rice) per person free of charge for the months of April, May and June. This was in addition to the usual entitlement of 5 kg of grain per month under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

Now as per Modi’s announcement the entitlement of an additional 5 kilograms per ration card holding household will continue for another 5 months. This is over and above the provision of 5 kilogram of grain per month under the NFSA.

Modi mentioned that the number of people this move would benefit is over 2.5 times the population of the United States and 12 times the population of the United Kingdom and also lauded the “hardworking farmer” and “honest taxpayer” who made such a scheme possible.

“Let there not be a single home where the hearth is not blazing. Everyone tried to ensure that no one went hungry,” the PM said.

He also mentioned figures of the packages brought by his government with the health crisis and lockdown in effect.

“Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, we announced a package of Rs. 1.75 lakh crore. In the last 3 months, Rs. 31,000 crore deposited in bank accounts of 20 crore poor families. Also, Rs. 18000 crore deposited in bank accounts of more than 9 crore farmers,” he said.

The prime minister also extolled the virtues of the ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ effort under which poorer sections who do not live in their birthplaces can avail themselves of the benefits of the PDS. Bal Krishan Negi and Seema Bathla had analysed for The Wire how the scheme would have benefitted affected migrant labourers at the time of the lockdown.

Like in his previous speeches, Modi began this one by extolling the virtues of the timing of India’s lockdown. Modi stressed that the decision was a “timely and compassionate” one. Yet, he said that people had been growing lax at a time when more cautiousness was necessary.

“During the earlier days of the lockdown, rules had been followed with a lot of seriousness. Now, the government, municipal bodies and citizens need to show the same type of cautiousness, especially in containment zones,” he said, citing the example of Bulgaria (without naming the country) where the prime minister had been fined for not wearing a mask at a public place.

This is the prime minister’s sixth address to the nation since the outbreak of the pandemic.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 4 PM tomorrow,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted on Monday night.

Speculation on what the subject of the prime minister’s speech could be this time, had ranged from the tension with China and the modalities of Unlock 2.0 to the possibility of a vaccine that could fight the coronavirus.

Union home minister Amit Shah had also tweeted, asking people to tune into the prime minister’s “important” address.

Congress leader and former party president Rahul Gandhi had, an hour before the speech, sought to train the focus of the prime minister’s address on the China question.