New Delhi, Dec 21: The Food Security Bill, which seeks to provide legal entitlement of cheaper foodgrains to over half of India’s 1.2 billion population, will be tabled in parliament Thursday, Food Minister K.V. Thomas said Wednesday.

“We will introduce the Food Security bill tomorrow,” Thomas told reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) here.

The union cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday approved the bill, a pet project of Congress president Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council.

“This is the dream project of Madam Sonia Gandhi,” Thomas said.

The bill promises 75 percent of rural population and 50 percent of urban households the right to 7 kg foodgrains per person per month, at Rs.3 per kg for rice, Rs.2 per kg for wheat and Rs.1 per kg for coarse grains to the priority beneficiaries.

The general category will be provided at least three kilograms of foodgrains per person per month at half the minimum selling price.

It will also provide rations or cooked meals to children under 14 years of age, destitutes, including women and persons on the margins of society.