Major leaks in India's food security system

India runs a big program that gives poor families cheap rice and wheat through shops called ration shops.

This program is called the Public Distribution System, and the government buys the grain and stores it with an organization called the Food Corporation of India.

The article says some of this food meant for poor people is being taken away and used for other things, like being sold for money.

A lot of the stored rice is now being turned into ethanol, a fuel that goes into car engines.

In just one year, the share of this rice used for fuel jumped from almost nothing to about a quarter of all ethanol made in India.

The government says it only uses leftover or damaged grain that people cannot safely eat, and that making fuel saves the country money.

But the article says poor families are getting less food, and new rules could cut rations for more than half of the poorest households.

New technology, like fingerprint checks, is also stopping some poor and older people from getting their food because their fingerprints are worn or they have no internet.

The writer worries that feeding cars is becoming more important than feeding hungry people.