What is the Definition of Poor?

Timeline of the Bill

July 2011: A ministerial panel approved the draft food security law that aims to give cheap grains to the majority of the population. Dec. 18, 2011: Indias Cabinet approves a draft of the food security law. Dec. 22, 2011: The draft food security law is presented in the lower house of Parliament. Nov. 2012: A Parliamentary panel sends the draft of the food security law back to the food ministry to incorporate changes after consulting state governments. Mar. 19 2013: Indias Cabinet approves an amended draft of the food security before introducing it in Parliament for a general debate.

 May 2, 2013: Indias government introduces an amended food security bill in the lower house of Parliament, doing away with an earlier proposal for separate categories of beneficiaries in urban and rural areas. May 8, 2013: A general debate on food security law ends without a vote by lawmakers as Parliaments budget session concludes two days ahead of schedule because of protests by opposition parties against alleged government corruption and calls for the resignation of the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar over allegations he tweaked a Central Bureau of Investigation report into irregularities in allocating coal mining licenses. Mr. Kumar stepped down a few days later but denied any wrongdoing. June 3, 2013: The Congress party and its allies were expected to thrash out a strategy of how to get its food bill into law at a meeting. But following an attack by Maoist insurgents on a Congress party convoy in Chhattisgarh the focus of the meeting changed to Maoist insurgency and discussions about the food bill were punted into the future. June 4, 2013: The Cabinet defers talks on approving the food security law through an executive order also known as an ordinance, saying that the draft bill was not submitted by Food Minister K.V. Thomas on time.

 June 13, 2013: After a Cabinet meeting, ministers decide to call a special session of Parliament to vote on a food security law once they have received assurances from opposition parties that they will support the bill. However, these plans never materialized. July 4, 2013: After passing up two opportunities to bring enact the bill as a temporary law, Indias Cabinet approved the food aid program as an ordinance, similar to an executive order. This temporary legislation was valid for six weeks from the start of the next session of Parliament, slated to begin Aug. 5. Aug. 5, 2013: As the monsoon session of Indias Parliament started, the bill is one of the key pieces of proposed legislation for debate. The Bharatiya Janata Party, Indias main opposition party, said it would not oppose the bill, but would propose certain changes to the existing version. Aug. 26, 2013: In the fourth week of Parliaments sitting, the bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with a simple majority. Sept. 2, 2013: Rajya Sabha passes the Food Security Bill.