Oh no! They can't really eat all those. And that's why we already have a Public Distribution System that covers about 27%-30% of our poor population. What Congress has done is to increase the cover to 67% of the population; FSB will use the same ill-equipped PDS network but for much larger population who are not really poor and can feed themselves.
Should we understand that 67% of our population is starving on roads while we have some 100 crore mobile phones?
Yes, instead of subsidized food, this money could have been spend more prudently on the stuffs you mentioned above.
As mentioned above, 67% of our population doesn’t starve on the roads. And for the bottom 30% we already have a PDS. Congress is trying to GET THEIR VOTES.
NO. The FSB is inflationary, and for very strong economic reasons. 4.7-5 kilos of food won't be sufficient for a month per person, and when they will go to market for more food grains, they will have to pay more for inflation. And those really “poor millions who would not sleep hungry” are technically not sleeping hungry already because of the existing PDS scheme which covers the bottom 1/3rd of the population. What is the real need to increase it to 2/3rd of the population, and that too using the same PDS network with all its loopholes?
But that is not the issue here. Where is the damn school dear? Do we have decent schools in every village and for all? We always run a deficit budget dear, we do not have plenty of money for running a USSR like system where state feeds all. And mighty USSR failed!! If you increase your spending here, that means you are cutting your budget somewhere else. For god’s sake give them education, give them access to basic healthcare so that they don't die untimely, give them opportunity to run small industries/business, help them earn more from multi-crop farming, give them roads so that they can access market directly, make them self-reliant, that's the duty of the state.
And if you are really concerned about the starving poor, then fix the loopholes in existing PDS. Build proper warehouses, and help the BPL fellows who are already supposed to get the benefits of PDS, but not getting it properly because the system is flawed and ill-equipped. 67% is a ridiculous figure and shameless election politics, nothing else, which will hurt the poor most for a long time to come.