The government on Thursday tabled in the Lok Sabha a landmark bill that seeks to
provide cheaper food grain to over half of India's 1.2 billion population and ensure that people "live a life with dignity".
Food Minister K.V. Thomas
introduced the National Food Security Bill, 2011 , "to provide for food and nutritional security by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices".
Thomas said that the bill will ensure people of India get "to live a life with dignity".
The union cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sunday approved the bill, a
pet project of Congress president Sonia Gandhi -led National Advisory Council (NAC) .
It promises 75 per cent of rural population and 50 per cent of urban households the right to 7 kg food grains per person per month, at Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs.1 per kg for coarse grains to the priority beneficiaries.
It will also provide rations or cooked meals to children under 14 years of age and destitute, including women and persons on the margins of society.
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