Fate of food law hangs in balance

States must identify people qualified for subsidised grain by July 5

The fate of the United Progressive Alliance's (UPA) most ambitious welfare scheme, the National Food Security Act, hangs in the balance as the election code of conduct sets in.State governments must identify people who qualify for subsidised grain by July 5, after which it is unclear what will happen to the law. Cheap grain has been distributed to less than half the states and union territories, including Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra.

These states have started distributing five kg of rice, wheat or coarse cereals per person per month at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Re 1 per kg, respectively.

However, the law requires all states to identify beneficiaries within a year of the Act's implementation - by July 5, 2014. With elections over the next two months, state governments will have little time to draw up their lists.

"There is nothing in the Act to deal with state governments that do not identify beneficiaries within a year. The food ministry will have to provide them grain at old rates and by the old method - the public distribution system cannot be disrupted," a senior food ministry official said.

A family gets 35 kg of cheap grain a month in the old rationing system. Families below the poverty line buy wheat at Rs 4.15 a kg and rice at Rs 5.65.

The official said his ministry could consult the law department after July 5, 2014, if states failed to draw up their lists of beneficiaries. "There have been instances earlier when Central legislation has been implemented by state governments well past the deadline," the official pointed out.

The Union finance ministry, too, seems to have factored this in its subsidy projections for 2014-15. Officials said the subsidy would not balloon immediately because the food scheme might take a back seat for three to four months.

The 2014-15 interim Budget provided Rs 1,15,000 crore as food subsidy, of which Rs 88,500 crore was exclusively for the new law, almost the same as the 2013-14 Budget estimates of Rs 90,000 crore.

Finance ministry officials are of the view if the UPA does not return to power, the new government might not push UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's pet welfare scheme. The Bharatiya Janata Party has indicated it would review all the UPA's entitlement programmes.