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Food subsidy

In reply to a question in Lok Sabha on April 21, 2008, the Food and Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar admitted that while a total of 102.8 million ration cards against BPL (below poverty line) people were issued, there were actually in the country only 65.2 million BPL families. It means that 37 million below poverty line-card holders or as much as 35 per cent of India's total number of beneficiaries under public distribution system do not exist in actuality.

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