Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who handles the finance portfolio, has declared that her government will set up 100 Atal Canteens in the Union Territory. The minister allocated ₹100 crore for the project in the budget.
Watch: Delhi CM Rekha Gupta says, "Food is a basic necessity for every person. To enhance food security and improve the nutritional status of economically weaker sections, we are launching 100 'Atal Canteens' across Delhi in honor of the birth centenary year of the late Shri Atal… pic.twitter.com/UCQB9lfMGr
— IANS (@ians_india) March 25, 2025
Atal Canteens will supply subsidised food as promised by the BJP in its recent election manifesto. Every slum cluster will have a canteen, where people can buy hot, cooked meals for ₹5. Gupta said the scheme will be tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth centenary year.
How is Atal Canteen different from canteens set up by Jayalalithaa and Siddaramaiah?
This is not the first time that a BJP government is implementing the Atal Canteen scheme. The BJP-led Haryana government has established Atal Kisan Mazdoor Canteens to provide affordable meals to farmers and labourers in markets. Under this scheme, the needy can buy a plate of rice, chapati, dal and vegetables for ₹10.
Amma Canteen
However, it was late J. Jayalalithaa, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who first introduced affordable canteens called the Amma Canteen in 2013. She had also implemented other Amma schemes like Amma salt, water etc at affordable rates. Amma Canteens serve an idli at ₹1 and a plate of chapati at ₹3. Variety rice would cost ₹5 and same for a plate of pongal.
The Amma Canteen scheme, though initiated by the previous AIADMK government, has been continued by the DMK government led by MK Stalin. In July 2024, Stalin announced that Amma Canteens would be refurbished at ₹21 crore. Of these, ₹14 crore was allotted for renovation of 388 canteens while the remaining amount was earmarked for replacing old utensils.
Indira Canteen
Following this, Siddaramaiah introduced Indira Canteens in Bengaluru in 2017 with the then-food minister UT Khader claiming they would be better than Amma Canteens. People could buy a breakfast of bisi bele bhaat, pongal or vegetable pulao at ₹5. For lunch and dinner, they can get rice, sambar, a vegetable side dish and curd at ₹10.
However, many Indira canteens in Bengaluru have stopped operating in 2024 due to delay in salary payments. These included the canteens in Yeshwantpur, Kengeri and Malleswaram.
Anna Canteen
Inspired by Jayalalithaa's Amma Canteen scheme, the Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party government had launched Anna Canteens in Andhra Pradesh in June 2016. The canteens were named after former Andhra Pradesh chief minister NT Rama Rao, who was the founder of TDP.
They provided meals thrice a day at ₹5 each. However, two months after YS Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in 2019, the scheme was stopped as the contract of an NGO that ran the canteens was not renewed. The NGO, Akshaya Patra Foundation, cooked and supplied food to more than 200 canteens in Andhra.
The Anna Canteens were reopened by the Chandrababu government in August 2024 after defeating Jagan's party in the assembly elections.
