India, March 25 -- Social justice minister Sanjay Shirsat on Monday admitted that the quality of the food being supplied to poor students' hostels run by his department was of a very low standard. Promising to upgrade the quality, he announced that his department would fix the grade and brands of ingredients such as rice, wheat and pulses that went into the preparation of the food. He also announced that the state government would accommodate 25,000 more students in the new hostels to be set up by the social justice department.

The social justice department runs 443 student hostels across Maharashtra, which includes 230 hostels for boys and 213 hostels for girls. A total of 23,208 male students and 20,650 female students live in these ho...