India's food subsidies plan needs to improve coverage, plug leakages

The Centre has allocated about 5.2% of its total budget for 2022-23 to the country's food subsidy programme. A crucial safety net, the food subsidy is used to protect farmers against low market prices and provide consumers with affordable food grains through the public distribution system (PDS).

However, the food subsidy has been criticised for its inadequate coverage and leakages, and there is a need to improve the programme, experts told IndiaSpend. Our explainer examines the various ways in which food subsidies have fallen short and what can be done to make it more useful for its beneficiaries.

How