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Ministry rejects NAC methodology of identifying priority households by Smita Gupta

Accord highest priority to inclusion of SCs and STs, says Council

Ministry's methodology will result in some of the most vulnerable slipping through cracks: NAC

Exclusion could prove politically disastrous to United Progressive Alliance

The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council celebrated on Thursday its first major success, in its second avatar, in blocking the government's efforts to dilute the landmark Right to Information Act.

But, if that was the good news, the bad news is that the Rural Development Ministry has rejected the NAC's methodology of identifying “priority households” — or those living below the poverty line (BPL). Worse, the Ministry has recommended that only those Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe households who display also one of a list of socio-economic vulnerabilities will be eligible for the priority tag for purposes of the National Food Security Bill (NFSB). Clearly, such an exclusion could prove politically disastrous to the United Progressive Alliance.

So even as the Food Ministry is yet to relent on the NAC's suggestions on legal food entitlements, the Rural Development Ministry's alternative methodology of identifying “priority households” could create another headache.

The NAC feels that the Ministry's methodology will result in some of the most vulnerable slipping through the cracks. NAC member Harsh Mander, who heads the Working Group on Food Security, told TheHindu that given that identification of the beneficiaries of the proposed NFSB would determine the success of the government's food security project, the “social inclusion approach was critical.”

On Thursday, therefore, the consensus was that the Rural Development Ministry be asked once again to accept the NAC's methodology of identifying priority households. It was already communicated, in a letter written by Ms. Gandhi, to Union Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in January, and the latter replied putting forward an alternative plan.

To protect the most vulnerable from exclusion errors, the NAC had sought the mandatory inclusion of eight groups — these are households belonging to “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups” (PTGs); “Maha Dalit Groups;” those headed by single women; minors; disabled persons; those dependent predominantly on alms for survival; where any member is a bonded labourer; and finally, the homeless.

Beyond these eight categories, the NAC wants the highest priority accorded to the inclusion of the SCs and the STs.

NAC sources said the Rural Development Ministry wanted to accept only two of the eight categories suggested — households belonging to the PTGs and the Maha Dalit Groups, and only those SCs and STs who display one of the vulnerabilities that it has drawn up. In place of the other six categories suggested by the NAC, the Ministry had an alternative list, which covers the NAC's categories, barring households headed by the disabled or bonded labourers.

The NAC has therefore reiterated that “the highest priority” should be given to inclusion of the SCs and the STs in the identification of “priority groups” for the NFSB.

Meanwhile, Aruna Roy, convener of the Working Group on Transparency, Accountability and Governance, informed the NAC that after several rounds of consultations with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the two arrived at an agreement on all issues except the one amendment proposed by the DoPT restricting all RTI applications to “one subject matter.”

Areas of agreement include the enhancement of the word limit from 250 to 500 and dropping the Rules on abatement of an RTI application on the death of an applicant.

With regard to limiting all RTI applications to “one subject matter,” the NAC has decided to recommend once again that the restriction to “one subject matter” be dropped from the purview of the proposed amendments to the RTI rules.