Poor People Stand In Line For Free Food In Front Of A Temple In New Delhi

FILE – In this March 20, 2012 file photo, a tribal woman shows her ration card to receive coupons to purchase subsidized rice from a fair price shop under the Public Distribution System in Rayagada, in Indian eastern state of Orissa. India will send billions of dollars in social welfare money directly to its poor under a new program inaugurated Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, aiming to cut out the middlemen blamed for the massive fraud that plagues the system. The new program would see welfare money directly deposited into recipients’ bank accounts and require them to prove their identity with biometric data, such as fingerprints or retina scans.

Impoverished and homeless people stand in a queue to receive free food from a volunteer organization in front of a temple, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. India will send billions of dollars in social welfare money directly to its poor under a new program inaugurated Tuesday, aiming to cut out the middlemen blamed for the massive fraud that plagues the system.

Impoverished and homeless people stand in a queue to receive free food from a volunteer organization in front of a temple, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. <AP/NEWSis/Manish Swarup>