Sri Lanka’s Cabinet has approved the proposal of providing 10 kilograms of rice per month to 2 million low-income families. President Ranil Wickremasinghe gave the proposal to ensure food security for 2 months.
- It will cover beneficiaries of the island’s national development programme for poverty alleviation, Samurdhi.
- The Govt will spend a total estimated cost of 8,040 million rupees which includes 6,200 million rupees for the purchase of 61,000 MT of paddy.
- District Secretaries and Divisional Secretaries will run the programme with the assistance of small and medium-scale paddy mills.
- Rice will be distributed among the identified Samurdhi beneficiaries including low-income earners using the existing system.