India to provide free food grains to over 800m poor people for one year

NEW DELHI: India will provide free food grains to more than 800 million people for one year, officials announced on Saturday.

“Food grains to be made available free of cost to more than 800 million beneficiaries till Dec 2023 under National Food Security Act,” Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar wrote on Twitter after a Cabinet meeting.

Jaishankar said it, “will ensure India’s food security.”

Senior minister Mansukh Mandaviya said it was a “historic decision.”

“The welfare of the poor & needy has always been a top priority of PM (Narendra Modi),” he said. “Modi Govt’s historic decision to provide free ration under National Food Security Act for 81.3 crore (813 million) poor people till December 2023 will strengthen food security.”

He also said the government will spend 2 trillion rupees ($24.2 billion) on the scheme.

“The decision will ensure an uninterrupted supply of food grains to the underprivileged and bring great relief in their lives,” said Mandaviya.

The announcement will also subsume the scheme started in 2020, which had to end this month after several extensions. Under the scheme, the government was providing free food grains to poor people.