The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government succeeded in getting its ambitious Food Security Bill passed in the Lok Sabha by voice vote.

The Bill, which seeks to entitle 67% of the country’s population — about 800 million people — to subsidised food, was passed after a six-hour debate in a late-evening sitting of the lower house. The Opposition, and even the Samajwadi Party (SP), which renders outside support to UPA, raised several questions — on future availability of food, financing of the ambitious programme and its long-term impact on farming practices in the country — but stopped short of opposing the Bill. Read More

Jyothi Shankaran

    Jyothi’s last role was as Senior Editor with the business news channel Bloomberg TV India. He also worked as News Editor at business-standard.com, the online version of the business newspaper Business Standard. Jyothi is a chemical engineer from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar.