With several state elections lined up over the next few months, followed by the general elections in 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could make the recent announcement of free ration under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) one of its calling cards to woo the electorate.
The free ration programme under the NFSA, which was announced in December 2022, has come into force from January 1 across India, for an initial period of one year.
Given that the general elections would follow months after the expiry of the aforementioned initial period, there is every possibility that the duration of