No plans to increase food handouts, says Paswan

Report had said Paswan wanted to increase handouts to 7 kg from 5 kg

The government has no plans to raise grain allocations under its food welfare programme, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told Reuters on Tuesday, after a newspaper had quoted him calling for an increase in such subsidised handouts.

"It is true that we have large stocks of rice and wheat but there is no proposal, no suggestion, to give 7 kg instead of 5," Paswan said. "There is no such plan."

In an earlier interview with the Economic Times, Paswan had said the government wanted to hike monthly handouts of food grains like rice by 40% from the current five kilogrammes per person.