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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cong brass iffy over ordinance route for food bill -Nitin Sethi

Cong brass iffy over ordinance route for food bill -Nitin Sethi

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published Published on Jun 6, 2013   modified Modified on Jun 6, 2013
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: The Congress leadership remains undecided on the ordinance route for National Food Security Bill, with the Cabinet meeting yet to be slated for Friday.

Sources said the party is yet to configure how to handle some of its reluctant allies as well as the opposition while contending with the fact that the bill could take anything between 6-9 months before the benefits finally roll out to the poor across all states.

While senior Congress leader A K Antony has backed the ordinance route, the PMO - never too keen on the bill in the first place, has vaccilated on the issue. Food minister K V Thomas, on the other hand has consistently advised that the ordinance option be kept as the last option to be used only if the party is unable to get allies and opposition on board through an all party meeting.

Political calculations of Congress have to factor in the recent flip by Samajwadi party supremo, Mulayam Singh who did a turn around recently to criticized Congress' president Sonia Gandhi's pet project, some months after his son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had written in favour of the bill only asking for its ambit to be expanded to cover a larger number in the state. Congress also has to figure how to bring around Sharad Pawar who has never shied away from making his reservations on the proposed law explicit.

The party will have to take a call on whether it would be easier to keep the allies on board in a cabinet meeting or would an advanced monsoon session of Parliament or special session help them air their differing views while staying on the right side of the division. Vagaries of political alliances in a pre-poll season has brought urgency to matter with the party unsure if waiting for the monsoon session might make it too late.

Discussions have also been held in the party on how to counter BJP if it asks for more a more expansive set of benefits or greater coverage - similar to the much celebrated Chhattisgarh model. Top party leaders have to decide if it would be easier to handle the counter in the Parliament once the ordinance is passed or is better dealt with in discussions in a special session right off.

The political matrix apart, the party leadership has been made aware that administratively it may take anywhere between 6-9 months before the scheme actually rolls out countrywide with the process of identification of beneficiaries rather far from completion.

The scheme requires identification of roughly 80 crore beneficiaries across the country based on the Socio-Economic and Caste Census which has only crossed its first stage at the moment in most states. The census data has to be cross verified by the village councils across the country to ascertain beneficiaries. In parallel the centre has to impose state-level cuts-offs to decide the quantum of beneficiaries the Union government would provide the support for. While the food ministry believes the formulation will ensure that none of the states lose out on existing allocations under the PDS scheme, the cut-offs, as usual are bound to lead to heartburn in some state governments.

The overall 75% cut off on number of beneficiaries for rural India and the 50% cut off for urban India cannot be applied uniformly and the centre has to ensure state-specific allocations. States that have already moved towards computerization of the records would be able to do the final identification quicker than the laggards, which means a final roll out could take time in some key states such as UP and Bihar though it would only be accelerated once the surety of the law is ensured.

Sources said while the ordinance for both the land and the food bill have been kept ready for a while now the final decision on the food bill is yet to be taken.


The Times of India, 6 June, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cong-brass-iffy-over-ordinance-route-for-food-bill/articleshow/20454946.cms


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