The Food Security Bill aims to subsidise some essential foods such as grains in an effort to make it more affordable for India's poorest.
The Indian parliament passed the multi-billion dollar food program with the hope of transforming the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
The United Nations says India is home to about 25 per cent of the world's hungry poor, and food security and affordability have emerged as key to maintaining India's growing prosperity.
The Food Security Bill will aim to provide nearly 70 per cent of the population with subsidised food - mostly rice, wheat and millet.
Having championed the program as part of the ruling party's welfare agenda, the National Congress president Sonia Gandhi urged the Parliament to affirm its commitment to India's welfare and wellbeing.
"Our goal for the foreseeable future must be to wipe out hunger and mulnutrition from our country. This legislation is only a beginning as we move forward, we will be open to constructive suggestions, we will learn from experience."
Despite decades of fast economic growth and already having the world's biggest food distribution system, India still struggles to feed its population adequately.
More than 40 per cent of children are malnourished and more than half of all pregnant women suffer from anaemia.
Under the Food Security Bill, 800 million poor people would receive five kilograms of cheap grain every month.
A kilo of rice would be sold at three rupees or around 5c, wheat at two rupees and millet at one rupee.
Nisha Agrawal is the chief executive of international aid group Oxfam's India branch.
He says the food subsidy program is the first step of many needed to solve India's hunger problems.
"There's a huge potential for agriculture in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, many parts of India and maybe this is just what is needed to get that impetus to start growing more food and then look at more agriculture. One of the reasons people are hungry in this country is because we haven't paid enough attention to agriculture in the last 30 years. Ever since the green revolution a lot of of complacency has set in. So we're looking at the whole food system which is broken, the production, distribution and consumption and nutrition and the bill is going to tackle all of that together."
But there's already been criticism of the bill, particularly from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP has backed the subsidy program, but says it doesn't go far enough in covering more of the country's population.
Professor Raghbendra Jha is the director of the Australia South Asia Research Centre at the Australian National University.
He says the Food Security Bill is ambitious, but that it could invariably lead to hikes in the price of other foods.
"The Food Security Bill that has been passed by the lower house of parliament is not very organised. It's not very well thought through. It has a number of important loopholes and not only can it lead to an escalation in the price of some other food but it also might lead to a drop in supplies, because if the price of major grains falls relative to other food then the farmers may not be so keen to produce these grains."
Professor Jha says the amount of subsidised food each person is entitled to may not go far in filling hungry stomachs.
He also says India's inefficient grain distribution system needs fixing before more food subsidies are introduced.
"Just to begin with, if you could fix that problem so that food doesn't go to waste in government silos and granaries and gets to the poor in time, under the existing public distribution scheme you'd probably do a better job in addressing food security than this bill will. What this bill does is it tries to legislate food security, when food security is more a matter of planning, market supply, organising distribution, ensuring fair delivery and so on."
There's also been criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party that the bill is an attempt by the ruling National Congress to grab votes rather than end hunger.
Pawan Luthra publishes the Sydney-based online publication Indian Link, which reports on Indian news and current affairs for Indians in Australia.
Mr Luthra refutes the opposition claims and says the bill is being seen as a genuine attempt to improve food security in India.
He adds it should also invariably be enough to win over India's hungry poor at the polls.
"Well, it could possibly be an election gimmick but there seems to be no mistaking Sonia Gandhi's passion for it because it's been a pet project for many months. But in terms of taking care of the very basic needs of food, clothing and shelter, if the current ruling government can help with the food part of it then obviously they're going to get a lot of support from the lower clases within the Indian population."
The bill must now be debated and approved by the upper house of the Indian parliament before being signed into law by the president.
It's expected to be approved pending amendments.
