The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on the Food Security Bill has decided to meet once again before releasing the much-awaited bill for public feedback. According to a highly placed official in the food ministry, the EGoM is yet to synchronise issues like the poverty estimate with the states, apart from taking a final call on the inclusion of the Above Poverty Line (APL) population in the proposed legislation.
The meeting of the EGoM is likely to take place on May 4.
The Planning Commission, the apex body to decide the BPL boundary, has identified the number of below poverty line (BPL) households at 74 million. But, food ministry sources said it is still awaiting the response of the states on this issue. “The BPL population, as estimated by the states is more than 100 million families. So, clearly, there is a huge gap between the Centre’s estimate and the state’s calculations. Since the states are ultimately implementing the schemes, we have to take into account their views as well.”
The next EGoM meeting will also take a call on providing foodgrain to the APL section. According to food ministry sources, the cost of providing subsidised foodgrain to APL families under the Act might add a huge financial burden on the government exchequer. “The Kerala government is asking for an increase of 10 kgs of rice for every APL family. Currently, 10 kgs of subsidised rice is given to APL families and the government wants to double this amount. If this is accepted, Kerala alone will incur an expense of Rs 5,000 crore for the central government. The government will also have to take into account similar demands from other states,” said a food ministry official.
The Planning Commission, in a preliminary draft, had ruled out inclusion of APL households in the scheme, stating the food stocks and subsidy requirement for the inclusion of APL families would not be feasible. Planning Commission estimates further show that inclusion of APL in the scheme to provide 35 kg of foodgrain per month to each household would increase the subsidy burden of the government by around 85 per cent (as per 2009 projections), taking poverty at 37.2 per cent of the population (Suresh Tendulkar Committee on Poverty Estimate).
The Plan panel has already revised the BPL estimate to 74 million from 65 million. But, the states have not yet shown any inclination to accept this new estimate and are making a case to extend the BPL ceiling limit further. The cumulative total evaluation of the states is over 100 million and central officials apprehend no state will agree to reduce or cut its own BPL estimate and invite political and social trouble. The Planning Commission estimate would provide the ceiling limit for BPL category for states, according to which they will issue new BPL cards after the BPL Census scheduled to take off in 2011. The government issues new BPL cards and identifies the poor through a census every five years.
The Planning Commission’s latest estimate comes close to the Suresh Tendulkar committee report submitted to the government last year. The Tendulkar committee had kept the number of BPL families at 80 million.
