Hyderabad, March 29 -- Telangana Minister for Irrigation, Food & Civil Supplies, Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday announced that the state government will provide free fine rice to 84% of the population from Ugadi.

Reddy credited Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for introducing the Food Security Act. "It was our leader Sonia Gandhi who brought in the Food Security Act. It was a very noble Act, and it is to ensure that nobody goes hungry in this country," he said.

Addressing concerns over ration quality under the Public Distribution System (PDS), Reddy stated, "In the many years of its implementation, Central and State Governments were giving rations but not of appropriate quality... Many times I pointed out that the ration being supplied to the ...