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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Government plans to expand basket of subsidised food items by Rajeev Jayaswal & Subhash Narayan

Government plans to expand basket of subsidised food items by Rajeev Jayaswal & Subhash Narayan

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published Published on Jul 5, 2010   modified Modified on Jul 5, 2010

The government plans to expand the basket of subsidised food items supplied to the poor by adding edible oil, sugar and pulses to wheat and rice provided currently, as it looks to ensure complete nutrition to the deprived.

The proposal is expected to be discussed at the July 24 meeting of National Development Council, a body of state chief ministers chaired by the Prime Minister. The idea was mooted by National Advisory Council (NAC), an influential advisory body chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“The government is considering to enhance subsidised food supply to the poorest among the poor with dal (pulses) and (edible) oil,” a senior government official said.

A panel of ministers had earlier suggested that every poor household get 25 kg of foodgrains every month at Rs 3 a kg under the new food security law. The quantum is likely to hiked to 35 kg of wheat and/or rice a month, as below poverty line households already get this much foodgrain.

The government is also considering pricing food items at their maximum retail prices, or MRP, to all households but the poor could be provided direct subsidy through smart cards.

“Subsidies can be provided to BPL families through smart cards, which will check pilferage of subsidised food items,” the official said.

NAC member and social activist Harsh Mander agrees that edible oil and pulses must form part of the national food security scheme, but he is sceptical about a direct cash subsidy to the poor through smart cards.

“It is based on the presumption that the poor has money to first buy food items and get reimbursement later,” he said. The system is not ready for cash transfer free of corruption, he added.

In the second meeting of reconstituted NAC on July 1, Mr Mander and MS Swaminathan had made presentations highlighting the need of universal entitlements under the National Food Security Act.

The NAC has proposed that the food security legislation should specifically cover the aged, infirm, destitute, homeless, differently abled, street children, primitive tribes and persons suffering from debilitating diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV AIDS and leprosy. It has also stressed the need to reform the PDS-based delivery mechanism.

“I think PDS is just one part. It is important, but we have to do more for the poorest of the poor...directly feeding them to save them from starvation through community kitchen and programmes like ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services),” Mr Mander said.

He called for focus on social and occupationally vulnerable categories that are easy to identify such as tribal, widows, disabled people, and urban homeless.


The Economic Times, 5 July, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/Government-plans-to-expand-basket-of-subsidised-food-items/articleshow/6129178.cms


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