India’s top court Monday (Dec 9) told the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do more to create jobs and not over-rely on providing free ration to poor. While hearing a matter related to the Food Security Act (FSA), the Supreme Court of India noted that state governments can abuse the scheme to appease people, knowing very well that it’s the central government that has to foot the bill.

“If the states were asked to provide free ration, many of them would say they cannot, citing financial crunch, and hence the focus should be on generating more employment,” the court observed. The court also noted whether states government should be asked to pay for the ration.

The court was hearing a case related to food security of the migrant workers. The apex court had earlier issued a directive that those eligible for food grains and ration cards under the law must receive their cards before Nov 19, 2024. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the central government in the court, said that the Union was providing free ration to over 80 crore (800 million) under the National Food Security Act 2013.

However, Advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned that over 20 to 30 million people were left out of the scheme. During the proceedings, Bhushan and Mehta got into a heated exchange. Mehta argued that Bhushan was trying to run the government and frame policies himself. In response, Bhushan said Mehta was making this allegation because he had ‘exposed some emails’ against the Solicitor General which damaged his reputation.

The court will now hear the matter on January 8 next year.

(With inputs from agencies)