India has approved a huge food security program for the country's poor who constitute two-thirds of the population.

The Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday passed an ordinance to implement the Food Security Bill which aims to provide food at subsidized rates to the country's poor, after failing to gain parliamentary support.

"The Cabinet has approved the food security ordinance unanimously," Food Minister K.V. Thomas told the media after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Food Minister said that the ordinance would be sent to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee for his approval, as required under the Constitution. Later, the Parliament will also have to pass it.

The Food Security Bill proposes to provide a kilo of rice at three Indian rupees (six U.S. cents), wheat at two rupees (four U. S. cents) and millet at one rupee (two U.S. cents).

The bill, which will ensure that the poor have the right to at least five kg of food grains every month, is to apply to 75 percent of Indians living in rural areas and 50 percent of the urban population.

The Food Security Bill, the brainchild of India's ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, is being called one of the world's largest welfare schemes. It was an election promise made by the Congress.

While the Congress says the bill aims at combating hunger, the opposition parties claim it's a poll gimmick, with barely a year to go for the general elections. Endi

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