Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Thomas food bill push by Radhika Ramaseshan

Thomas food bill push by Radhika Ramaseshan

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Feb 14, 2011   modified Modified on Feb 14, 2011
New food minister K.V. Thomas has set the ball rolling on the food security bill, a top priority for the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC).

Thomas, who last month replaced Sharad Pawar as minister in charge of the department, met council members Harsh Mander and N.C. Saxena on Thursday to discuss the bill.

The minister’s push is being seen as an indication that Sonia’s team may get its way against objections raised by a section of the government to its proposals that could drive up the already-high food subsidies.

Thomas would not say if the bill would make it to the budget session but a “cautious” guess suggested it could be introduced in the monsoon session in July-August. He dubbed the legislation “more revolutionary than the NREGA” (the rural job scheme).

“We have to be on the job, otherwise it will be difficult to implement the bill in the form that the NAC seeks. The food security bill is more revolutionary than the NREGA, so the systems of execution have to be error-free,” Thomas said, referring to the UPA’s flagship rural job scheme.

Thomas told The Telegraph that his thrust areas were increasing grain procurement by government agencies such as the Food Corporation of India — for sale through ration shops — by at least 15 million tonnes within the next two years. The current grain stocks are put at 40-45 million tonnes.

Other plans include plugging loopholes in the public distribution system and modernising storage facilities the way the Chinese have done.

Thomas, who also holds charge of public distribution and headed Kerala’s retail ration dealers’ association for years, said he was “not worried” about an increase in the government’s food subsidy bill. “When population goes up and purchasing capacity increases, the subsidies for the poor and vulnerable sections should also rise correspondingly.”

The Telegraph, 14 February, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110214/jsp/nation/story_13579606.jsp


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close