Indira Canteen is a food subsidisation programme run by the Ministry of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer affairs,

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as GoK or GoKA, formerly known as Government of Mysore (1956–1974), is a democratically elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka ...

. It inspired from the Amma Unavagam of

Tamilnadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. It is named after

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

, the first and only female

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

. Indira canteens slowly became defunct once the Congress party lost power in the state. Since it returned to power in 2023, there have been attempts and news of reviving the canteens The canteens are part funded from the state budget and partly from the budgets of the civic bodies. Earlier, the state government contributed 70% of the costs whereas now its share is likely to fall to 50% in Bengaluru.

Structure

The canteens serving food in civic wards of districts and taluka places of Karnataka. The canteen serves breakfast, lunch, and dinners. Aimed at aiding economically disadvantaged sections of society at a subsidized price.

Food items

Idli Idli, iddena, iddali or idly (; plural: idlis) is a type of savoury rice cake, originating from South India, popular as a breakfast food in Southern India and in Sri Lanka. The cakes are made by steaming a batter consisting of fermented de-h ...

s and

coconut chutney Coconut chutney is a south Indian chutney, a side-dish or a condiment, common in the Indian subcontinent. The condiment is made with coconut pulp ground with other ingredients such as green chillies, tamarind, salt, coriander and water. Coconut ...

along with variety rice of the day will be served in breakfast, for lunch and dinner, rice, sambar, curd rice, tomato bath, and a few other items will be served.

List of canteens in Karnataka

The largest number of canteens are in Bangalore, almost 200. A relatively up to date (as of November 2023) can be found on the Open City Data website.https://data.opencity.in/dataset/bengaluru-indira-canteens

References

{{coord missing, Karnataka Restaurants in Bengaluru Culture of Bengaluru 2017 establishments in Karnataka Government schemes in Karnataka