 "Samajwadi Party says Food Security Bill is 'anti-farmers'")
The Samajwadi Party (SP), which provides outside support to the Congress-led UPA Government, on Monday said the Centre should not bring the Food Security Bill as it would distress the farmers.
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal said that the government is moving towards mid-term polls by deciding to bring in the Food Security Bill.
"I feel that by bringing in the Food Security Bill, the government is going towards mid and we have earlier also indicated the same. The Samajwadi Party opposes this bill because the bill is against the interest of the farmers. The day this bill is implemented, the farmer would not get his due amount for the yield and his condition would further deteriorate," said Aggarwal.
" The farmers are already committing suicide for the same reasons but after the passing of this bill, the trend would gain momentum and farmers all over the country would begin committing suicide," he added.
The UPA Coordination Committee will meet here today to finalise the Food Security Bill.
The decision was taken on Saturday at the Congress Core Group meet held at Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's official 7, RCR residence.
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Meanwhile, UPA Government has an option to get the Food Security bill passed either in a special session of the parliament, or to implement through an ordinance or executive order.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh were present during Saturday's meeting.
Other Union leaders including Ahmed Patel, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, and Sushil Kumar Shinde were also present in the meeting. Food Minister K V Thomas and Congress in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad were the special invitees for the meet.
The National Food Security Bill, 2011, considered to be the world's largest experiment in ensuring food security to poor, has been a key project of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
It hopes to meet the food needs of 75 percent of rural households and 50 percent of urban households. The Bill classifies all entitled households as "general" and "priority".
At least 46 percent of rural households and 28 percent of urban households would be designated as "priority".
Every person belonging to a "priority household" will be provided with seven kilograms of grain per month, comprising rice, wheat and coarse grain. Rice will be provided at Rs.3, wheat at Rs.2 and coarse grain at Rs.1 per kilogram.
Others belonging to the "general category" would be entitled to not less than three kilogram of grain per month at a rate not exceeding 50 percent of the minimum support price.