Opinion divided over India food bill
Upper house votes on measure that aims to subsidise food for the country’s poorest citizens.
Published On 2 Sep 2013
India’s upper house is taking up a massive food security bill that aims to provide heavily subsidised food to two-thirds of the population.
It was approved by the lower house last week.
The bill intends to cover more than 800 million Indians and seeks to address the needs of some of the poorest families.
Each person qualifying for the aid will be entitled to five kilograms of rice, wheat and coarse cereals at a nominal price every month.
The programme has been estimated to bring food subsidy costs up to $19.6bn this financial year, almost $5bn dollars more than current spending.
Al Jazeera’s Nidhi Dutt reports from New Delhi.
Source: Al Jazeera