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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Food Security Bill: Women made heads of households selected for food grain distribution by Binoy Prabhakar

Food Security Bill: Women made heads of households selected for food grain distribution by Binoy Prabhakar

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published Published on May 29, 2011   modified Modified on May 29, 2011
In a radical departure from official welfare norms, the draft Food Security Bill has made adult women heads of households selected for distribution of subsidised food grain.

This highly unusual move for general welfare schemes wasn't part of the original discussions on the food bill. The bill has shaped into the big daddy, or in this case the big mummy, of all welfare schemes by providing free food to pregnant women and children and separately covering groups such as destitutes, the homeless and migrant workers.

The National Food Security Bill, 2011 anoints women of 18 years and above to access rice, wheat and nutri-cereals with ration cards, according to the draft, a copy of which has been reviewed exclusively by ET on Sunday.

The bill also guarantees 7 kgs of food grain to every person belonging to the 'priority' households and 3 kgs to individuals from 'general' households every month at subsidised prices. The so-called priority households will be selected from the poorest 46% in rural areas and 26% in urban areas. Another 29% and 22% of the population from rural and urban areas respectively will be treated as general category.

Food minister KV Thomas said the draft bill, the most expansive legislation of UPA-II, will follow the directions of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The bill has ridden a bureaucratic rollercoaster due to serious disagreements between the National Advisory Council and the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Committee due to its ambitious plans of government spending.

The EAC was concerned with the bill's provisions over insufficient food grain and the potential distortion of open market food prices. The body, headed by C Rangarajan, also differed with the NAC on the subsidy blowup the bill could spawn, saying the government will struggle to contain fiscal deficit.

For this reason perhaps, the draft bill is silent on the subsidised prices at which the grain will be distributed. It has left the prices to be fixed by the government. But in its huge coverage of the population and quantum of food grain, the bill has ignored the EAC's fiscal and farm productivity concerns.

A senior food ministry official had said though the draft bill has been prepared, it may not become law in its current form. Changes could be effected before it reaches an empowered panel of ministers and then the cabinet. The bill will then be tabled in parliament.


That means the bill could miss Sonia Gandhi's deadline: tabling in the monsoon session of parliament. But in every other aspect, it remains faithful to the Congress president's recommendations. Even the draft bill's aim to "provide food and nutritional security to cover the entire human lifecycle" closely resembles an NAC explanatory note on the food bill.

The draft bill says it will do so by "ensuring adequate quantity of food at affordable prices for people to live a life with dignity".

Another key feature of the bill is its vision for lavishing aid to mothers and children. Every pregnant and lactating mother "will be entitled to take-home rations or nutritious cooked meals during pregnancy and six months after child birth through local anganwadis or any other institution identified for this purpose". These women will also receive a maternity benefit of Rs 1,000 a month for six months.

Children up to 14 years shall receive at least one free nutritious cooked meal and snacks at local anganwadis and government schools, says the draft bill.

The Economic Times, 29 May, 2011, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/food-security-bill-women-made-heads-of-households-selected-for-food-grain-distribution/articleshow/8631254.cms


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