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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Govt may offer cash to poor who fail to get food by Liz Mathew

Govt may offer cash to poor who fail to get food by Liz Mathew

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published Published on Jun 6, 2010   modified Modified on Jun 6, 2010


A new draft of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) suggests offering cash compensation to poor people who are unable to receive their quota of subsidized foodgrains. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will discuss the draft with state food secretaries in a meeting on 14-15 June.

“The Central government shall set up, by notification, a central food security fund for payment of compensation to state governments in the event of failure of the central government to make available the required quantity of foodgrains to state governments in respect of BPL (below poverty line) families,” says the draft Bill. It adds that state governments should then ensure “expeditious payment of food security allowance to identified BPL families.”

Food security for the poor was among the key promises made by the UPA before last year’s parliamentary elections, in which it cemented its position as India’s largest party.

But the draft legislation approved by an empowered group of ministers (eGoM) fell short of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s original proposal, confining the concept of food security to the sale of 25kg of wheat and rice every month at Rs3 per kg. The Bill was sent back for redrafting.

The new draft has incorporated the suggestions of the eGoM as well as Gandhi, said an agriculture ministry official on condition of anonymity. Gandhi heads the recently reconstituted National Advisory Council (NAC), which sets the government’s social agenda.

It does not specify the price of the foodgrains, saying they would be sold “at subsidized issue prices fixed from time to time in a manner as may be provided under the rules”. It also says the government may allocate more than 25kg of foodgrains a month depending on their availability.

The draft allows fair price shops to trade in essential commodities and articles other than targeted public distribution system commodities.

The Bill says guidelines for identifying BPL families will be fixed by the Central government on the basis of poverty estimates notified by the Planning Commission and “relevant census data”.

It incorporates a provision for women’s empowerment, laying out that “women shall be considered as the head of the household for the purpose of distribution of BPL cards, unless there is no adult woman in the household.”

The draft has been readied after the reconstitution of NAC, which played a key role in formulating the UPA’s social welfare schemes during its 2004-09 tenure. A senior Congress leader said, on condition of anonymity, that NAC will again play an influential role.

But N.C. Saxena, NAC member and a former Planning Commission secretary, said the provision of cash compensations won’t help.

“It’s not a good move at all. The previous experiences have been very poor,” he said, citing the example of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which envisaged paying an unemployment allowance to workers who couldn’t get jobs under the government’s flagship employment scheme.

The scheme promises at least 100 days of manual work annually to one member of every rural household. The promised unemployment allowance is not being paid in most parts of the country, Mint reported on 31 March.

“It is just an eyewash to create an impression that the government is doing something,” Saxena said of the proposed cash compensation under the food security Act. “How is it possible for a poor man to approach government (with a complaint) that he did not receive foodgrain from the ration shop? It’s not a practical suggestion at all.”


Live Mint, 7 June, 2010, http://www.livemint.com/2010/06/06202436/Govt-may-offer-cash-to-poor-wh.html?atype=tp


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