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ndia’s ruling party chief Sonia Gandhi urged lawmakers Monday to support a new 18-billion-dollar scheme to provide cheap food to the poor, saying it would help banish hunger from the country. After days of unruly scenes in parliament, MPs finally agreed Monday to debate the Food Security Bill — a flagship scheme of Gandhi’s Congress party. Gandhi told MPs to send a message to the world that India was ready to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described as a “national shame”.
"This is a vote security bill not Food Security bill...," BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said during debate on the legislation in the Lok Sabha.
"What is adequate food? Is it going to be based on purchasing power, calorific value or nutrition?... You mention eligible households, why this 'tamasha' (drama). What if it is only single person. You (the government) should clarify whether one person will be classified as household," he said.
Besides, he questioned where the funds would come from for implementation of the bill.