Sonia demands free food grains for poor till September

Gallery

MORE...

Sports

Paralympics: BAI announces Rs 50 lakh cash reward for medallist para-shuttlers

Badminton Federation of India (BAI) on Tuesday announced the cash reward of Rs 50 lakh for

Laver Cup: Tiafoe upsets Medvedev, Alcaraz pulls Team Europe level with Team World

Cincinnati Open: Tiafoe, Hurkacz, Rune and Draper in the quarters

Paris Olympics: Abhinav Bindra 'completely gutted' after Vinesh Phogat's disqualification

Paris Olympics: USA, China in Top-2, India slip to 60th

Paris Olympics, Medal Tally: USA jump to top, China slip to 2nd; India on 57th

MORE...

Sonia demands free food grains for poor till September

Last Updated : 23 Jun 2020 08:53:56 AM IST

Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi

Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding extension of free food grains for the poor and needy for a period of three months till September.

She said, since the lockdown was announced 3 months ago millions of people are on the verge of "slipping into poverty" and the adverse impact has led to food "insecurity."

In the letter Sonia Gandhi said, "The Union government must consider extending the provision for free food grains for further period of three months till September 2020, as several states have requested for the same."

The Congress interim chief also demanded temporary ration cards should be provided as many poor families are excluded from the PDS.

She said that the government already has provision of 5 kgs of foodgrains per person till June through Antyodya Scheme and National Food Security Act, and the government has also extended this facility to migrants who are not covered in PDS.

She said due to the pandemic and lockdown both urban and poor Indians are facing hunger and thus the food entitlement scheme should be extended.