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Bloomberg
India’s move to restructure the world’s biggest food program is a fiscally prudent and a politically deft move, according to Nomura Holdings Inc.
The withdrawal of the free food plan was always going to be politically tricky, but the simultaneous reorientation of the food public distribution system makes it an easier political sell, Nomura economists Sonal Varma and Aurodeep Nandi said.
The move is particularly significant in light of the busy political calendar in 2023, with states elections due to be held in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, and general elections in the summer of 2024, they added.
The government discontinued a version of a free-food program for low income households announced in April 2020, and replaced it with the new initiative that will also give out free grains while lowering the quantity.