The introduction of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India in a statute is projected as a path-breaking initiative in the process of inclusive growth. As authentic data is likely to be available only during October-December, 2015, we have a quick look on the trends and volumes of Government expenditure in similar social sectors, and the size of the resources that might be available for such efforts under CSR, by a conservative estimation using published figures, in an effort to de-mystify the concept, its reach and the real purpose it could serve.

India is home to 22 per cent of the world's poor, but the majority is in rural area. Such a high incidence of poverty is a matter of concern in view of the fact that food security and its quality has been one of the major concerns for rural poor. Agricultural wage earners, small and marginal farmers and casual workers engaged in non-agricultural activities, constitute the bulk of the rural poor. Small land holdings and their low productivity are the cause of poverty among households dependent on land-based activities for their livelihood. Even after six decades of independence and two decades of economic liberalization, it remains the bitter truth. This study assumes greater significance, because, majority of the rural poor still depend on low quality of food grain leading to poor health and malnutrition. An effective public distribution system with quality of food grain would help in reducing the government spending on public health problems. This study could be useful not only to India, but to many other economies that are on the threshold of transition; where majority of the population, still lives in the rural areas, and are predominantly dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. This study was undertaken with the objective of analyzing the socio-economic conditions of rural poor of India with respect to their quality of food grain consumption. The study conducts a questionnaire based survey on demographic, economic, and perceptible parameters on quality of food; using ordinal logit model to identify variables useful for the study. The respondents with larger income have more chances of consuming good quality of food. Interestingly, it is also found that most of the poorest of the poor respondents spend high share of their income on food consumption.