 "Raman Singh seeks changes in Food Security Bill")
In a letter to the prime minister, Singh suggested that entitlement of food grains should be provided on per household basis instead of per capita basis.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution has recommended that the Centre should work out state specific exclusion criteria in consultation with states in a transparent manner while ensuring that the overall exclusion at the national level does not exceed 25% in case of rural areas and 50% in case of urban areas.
The Committee has also recommended that all eligible persons (i.e maximum 75% and 50% of population in rural and urban areas respectively) should be provided an entitlement to receive five kg food grain per person every month.
"As recommended by the Committee, the state specific exclusion criteria should be decided in consultation with the state government. Also, it is suggested that uniform exclusion limits should not be prescribed in the bill.
"Instead, the exclusion limit for a state, if at all, should be fixed keeping in view the socio economic conditions of the state," the chief minister of the BJP-ruled state said in the letter written today.
He said provision of entitlements on a per capita basis would result in reduction of the entitlements of large number of poor families whose family size is less than five.
"This would be detrimental in ensuring food security of such poor families. Therefore, the entitlements should be provided on a per household basis and not on a per capita basis," he said.
Highlighting one of the recommendations by the Committee for providing five kilograms food grains per person per month, Singh said such a small quantity would not be sufficient to ensure food security of poor families in a meaningful way.
"My suggestion in this regard is that the entitlements for poor families should at least be fixed at 35 kg per household per month," he said.
He also highlighted some provisions of Chhattisgarh Food Security Act, 2012, passed by the legislative assembly here last year, in his letter to make centre's proposed legislation more effective.