Food subsidy cut in budget draws flak

Minister says open market price to rise

February 01, 2020 11:25 pm | Updated 11:25 pm IST - KOCHI:

The Union Budget proposal to cut food subsidy will hit a State like Kerala particularly hard, Minister for Civil Supplies P. Thilothaman has said.

The State has been receiving lower than its deserving share of subsidised grain, the Minister said on Saturday. Though Kerala deserves to get subsidised foodgrain for more than 60% of its population, the State gets these subsidised supplies only for about 46% of the population.

Former Union Minister for Consumer Affairs and architect of the 2013 Food Security Act K.V. Thomas said cutting food subsidy would eat into the right of the people for food security, which the Act was meant to ensure. The Act made it a right of the poor to get subsidised foodgrain and about 60% of Kerala had been covered under the Act, he said.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.