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Food Security Bill

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Submitted By Abid9172
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Name: The National Food Security Bill, 2013.
Aim: The primary objective of the bill is to guarantee cheap food grain to nearly 70% of India’s 1.2 billion people. The broader aim is to alleviate chronic hunger and poverty in India.
Why it’s important: India accounts for a third of the world’s poor, the World Bank said earlier this year.
Almost half of the country’s children under five are classed as chronically malnourished, and more than a third of Indians aged 15 to 49 are undernourished, according to India’s National Family Health Survey in 2006, the latest data available.
Who it affects: The bill, if passed, would provide subsidized food grain to 75% of India’s estimated 833 million rural population and 50% of an estimated 377 million urban population.
Under the program, beneficiaries can get a total of five kilograms of subsidized rice, wheat and coarse grains a month. These can be bought at prices ranging from one to three rupees (approximately two to five U.S. cents) a kilogram, far cheaper than market rates of 20 to 25 rupees.
How it works: The state-run Food Corporation of India will distribute subsidized grains through a nationwide network of “fair price shops.” In 2011, the latest year for which government data are available, the FCI ran more than 505,000 fair price shops in India.
Cost: The government says it will spend about $4 billion a year on the program.
More In Food-Security-Bill * ‘GM Crops Won’t Solve India’s Food Crisis’ * No More Business Class for Indian Bureaucrats * Timeline: India’s Food Security Bill * Where India’s Food Bill Fails Children * How Chhattisgarh’s Food Security Law Works
Criticism: The bill has been criticized by opponents of the ruling Congress party and some food security analysts. Many see it as an attempt by the Congress party to woo poor and middle-class voters ahead of federal polls in

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