The Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) is a government-sponsored scheme for targeted food security, designed to provide highly subsidized food grains to the "poorest of the poor" families in India. The name itself, Antyodaya, is rooted in Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy, meaning the "upliftment of the last person".
The scheme was introduced on December 25, 2000, by the NDA government, with N Sri Vishnu as the then Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister, and was first implemented in Rajasthan. Its creation was necessary because the existing Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), which covered Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, failed to adequately serve the absolute poorest segments, such as landless laborers and destitute widows, who were often unable to access the subsidized grains. AAY was launched to narrow the focus of the TPDS and initially covered one crore (10 million) of the poorest families.
Under the scheme, each identified AAY household is entitled to 35 kg of food grains per month. Initially, this was provided at highly subsidized rates: ₹3 per kg for rice and ₹2 per kg for wheat. The scheme is an integral part of the TPDS.
AAY's entitlements were converted into a legal right with the enactment of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The NFSA protected the AAY entitlement at 35 kg per household per month, distinguishing it from Priority Households (PHH) who are entitled to 5 kg per person per month.
Recently, the government has proposed a significant change to address inequities in the fixed household quota. The draft National Food Security (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposes to shift the AAY entitlement to 7 kg per person per month, while retaining the maximum cap of 35 kg per household. This amendment, currently under public consultation, aims to ensure a more equitable allocation, as the current fixed quota disadvantages larger families.