New delhi: The Indian cabinet has approved a bill to provide subsidised food to hundreds of millions of people.
According to reports, the Food Security Bill would provide monthly supplies of cheap rice, wheat and millet to 64 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion population.
The legislation, which must still be approved by parliament, will increase the government’s annual food subsidy bill by nearly 280 billion rupees to 950 billion rupees.
Further substantial funds will be needed to ramp up grain production to meet the subsidy requirement.
Food Minister K.V. Thomas said the bill would be presented in parliament before the current session ends on Thursday.
