Subsidised food to the poor is estimated to cost the exchequer Rs 125000 Cr for the year 2013-14. It throws out some interesting statistics if delved deeper. The amount is supposed to cover 70% of the population. Given this population  figure at around 80 crore the subsidy amount comes to about Rs1500 on a per capita basis per year. Again if this amount of Rs 1500 is divided by 365  it is Rs4 per capita per day. That’s equivalent to much less than the cost of cutting chai in the city of Mumbai, in these days of high inflation.

Again if the remaining 30% of the uncovered population has to contribute to this it works like this. Rs 125000 Cr if divided by 30 crore have population it comes to Rs4200 per capita per year basis. Divide this further by 365 and you get Rs12 per capita per day. This is the contribution required per day  from the haves to meet the subsidy bill ,which is much less than the cost of a special chai on the kerbs of Mumbai streets. Of Course if we can some how get hold on $500b Swiss Stash Indian Statistics will become more magical.