Author: Urvasi Sirasikar

India will end its COVID-19 era free food program on December 31 and replace it with a cheaper scheme that will save the government nearly $20 billion over the coming 12 months. Late on Friday, India’s Food and Trade Minister, Piyush Goyal, said the government would stop the free food program after 28 months because the economic situation had improved since COVID-19 cases and restrictions have eased. The pandemic and its impact on the economy — particularly on food prices — have squeezed India’s hundreds of millions of poor people. Its initial program provided poor families with 5 kilograms of food grains each month, in addition to other highly subsidised food grains.…