 "UPA govt takes ordinance route to food security")
The Cabinet, which had last month deferred a decision, on Wednesday unanimously approved an ordinance to implement the food security Bill, even as some experts raised objections.
According to the ordinance, states will have to identify eligible households within six months. During this period, they will continue to get foodgrain allocation under the current Targeted Public Distribution System.
The ordinance had been listed on agenda for Cabinet meetings on a couple of earlier occasions, too, but it could not be cleared due to objections from some ministers, including Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
The Nationalist Congress Party’s D P Tripathi said his party supported the Cabinet decision. “There were certain concerns and we wanted farmers’ rights to be protected,” he said.
The ordinance will cover up to 75 per cent of the rural and up to 50 per cent of the urban population to provide uniform entitlement of 5 kg foodgrain per month — at highly subsidised prices of Rs 3, Rs 2 and Rs 1 a kg for rice, wheat and coarse grains, respectively. The Bill will also provide maternity benefit to identified beneficiaries, at Rs 1,000 per month (for six months).
The subsidised price fixed by the government will be valid for three years. After that period, it can be reviewed but will not exceed the prevailing minimum support price of wheat, rice, or coarse cereals.
Overall, it will make around 80 million of India’s 1.2 billion population entitled to subsidised foodgrain under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
The rollout of the food security programme will also mean that the government’s food subsidy bill will rise to Rs 1,24,724 crore in a year (at 2013-14 cost basis). Budget 2013-14 had pegged the subsidy at Rs 90,000 crore.
The government decided not to convene a special session of Parliament, since there was no consensus for that among political parties. Also, that an ordinance was preferred to the legislative route suggests that the government was not sure the monsoon session of Parliament, likely to begin from next month, would run smoothly.
The revised Food Security Bill had been hurriedly tabled in Parliament’s previous session, which was marred by continuous uproarious scenes over allegations of corruption and scam against the ruling coalition.
After the President gives his go-ahead, an ordinance is required to be approved by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha within six weeks of Parliament’s next sitting. Otherwise, the ordinance concerned lapses and has to be promulgated again.
Many believe the government’s urgency to bring the food security programme could be because six states — Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Mizoram — are slated to go to polls later this year.