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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cabinet all set to clear Food Guarantee Bill on Monday

Cabinet all set to clear Food Guarantee Bill on Monday

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published Published on Dec 18, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 18, 2011
-The Economic Times

Sonia Gandhi's pet programme - the food guarantee scheme - will be cleared by the Cabinet on Monday. The decision has been taken after discussions with agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, who has been seeking detailed deliberation on the financial implications of the scheme as well as its impact on the farm sector.

The bill will be referred to the standing committee on food after its introduction in Parliament. "The issues raised by Pawar can be addressed by the standing committee," a senior minister said.

The Cabinet's last meeting had to defer a decision after Pawar said the programme will make the fiscal situation more vulnerable and distort the market. The subsidy bill is projected to swell from Rs 60,000 crore in the 2011-2012 to Rs 95,000 crore. It would also make the government the biggest procurer of grain.

Sharad Pawar had argued that the government should stick to the promise made in the President's address. The government had said that it would provide 25 kg of grain at subsidised rates to BPL families. However, the draft finalised in consultations with the NAC hiked the quantum of grain to 35 kg and brought more categories under its ambit.

Economists and other experts are in agreement with this argument as production cost of crops are bound to rise with every season. The government will also have to pump in more money to raise the productivity so that it will not have to depend on markets outside to sustain the programme. Pawar has been maintaining that the programme will be sustainable only if the government hikes investment in the agri sector from the current Rs 20,000 crore to Rs 100,000 crore.

But the government's immediate concern is on refurbishing its image in poll-bound states. The introduction of the food guarantee bill will give it an opportunity to drive home the point that the government has been loyal to the poll manifesto of Congress.

The Economic Times, 17 December, 2011, http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-12-17/news/30528730_1_cabinet-bpl-food-guarantee-bill


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