Mission 2024: Free Food For Political Thought?

The union government has decided to make ration available for free, and not just on subsidised rates, to those covered under the National Food Security Act at least till December next year. The decision, essentially, is to subsume under the Act the special free-ration scheme - Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana - started in 2020 after Covid affected livelihoods. The Act, thus, will now cover over 80 crore people. Alok Pandey and Rajesh Gupta report on what this means for people on the ground.