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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Food security bill back on Centre table

The draft Food Security Bill, which has returned to the negotiating table of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) after a gap, is, among other things, expected to witness discussions on the number of people to be covered by the scheme across the country, whether the other vulnerable sections of the society are to brought within its ambit, whether it should be confined to the distribution of either rice or wheat or cover other foodgrains, and the vexed issue of who should bear the burden of the overhead costs, such as transportation.

The EGoM, which is headed by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is resuming its meetings here on Friday to decide the final shape of the ambitious legislation, which is calculated to buttress the Congress’ credentials as the party of the aam aadmi by making access to food among the poor and the needy a fundamental right. Copies of the draft Food Security Bill will be circulated among the members of the ministerial group at tomorrow’ meeting.

The programme, which seeks to provide 25 kgs of rice or wheat at Rs 3 per kg every month to all the families living below the poverty line, is, once it reaches the execution stage, is expected to cost the government Rs 62,000 crores every year, which is equal to the food subsidy burden borne by the Centre.

While the Bill is expected to translate into reality the Congress-led UPA’s ``food-for-all’’ commitment, there is no unanimity on the number of people who are to covered by the scheme. While the Planning Commission estimates that 27.6% of the country’s total population is living below poverty line, the Tendulkar committee has pegged the figure at 37.8%. The N C Saxena committee, set up by the rural development ministry, reckons that almost half of the total population of the country is living below poverty line., while the Gupta committee put the figure at 70%.

The draft legislation has also sought to address the vexed issue of fixing the burden of the transportation cost of foodgrains. And , going by the provisions of the legislation, it is the states which will have to incur the transportation costs.

The bill has also sought to explore the possibility of including other vulnerable sections , including children under the age of 5, people carrying the HIV positive virus and other such groups among its beneficiaries.

The importance of the programme in the UPA-II’s scheme of things could be gauged from the fact that President Pratibha Patil included it in her address to the joint session of Parliament after Mr Manmohan Singh took over the reins of the country for the second consecutive time last year. But it was put on hold subsequently because of the looming drought, which upset the country’s food availability.

With the food situation improving, prime minister Manmohan Singh, while addressing the chief ministers’ conclave on the price situation earlier this week, said that the Food Security Bill would be brought back on the table soon.