Bowing to political and public pressure,  Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government will provide free vaccines to people above 18 from June 21. 

 "It has been decided that from June 21, all adults over the age of 18 will be vaccinated free," Modi said in a televised address to the nation.

The prime minister's address came on a day India recorded 100,636 new Covid-19 cases—the lowest in 61 days.

 Modi said his government will procure 75 percent of the total vaccine production from manufacturers and give it free of cost to the state governments and will also bear the responsibility of 25 percent of the work related to vaccination with the states.

He said from June 21 the government will provide "free vaccine for people above 18 years."  So far people were being charged for vaccines by private hospitals while the government was giving it free to those who could not afford in government hospitals.  

He also announced that free ration will be provided to 800 poor people of the country, which is seen as a revolutionary policy step, that has been demanded by development economists ever since the pandemic last year when hundreds of millions of ordinary workers lost their jobs and their means of livelihoods. (SAM)