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.
