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The National Food Security Bill (NFSB) will be taken up for discussion in the Lok Sabha today. Affirming this Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath today appealed to the Opposition parties to allow the House to function. He said that all views would be discussed provided the House was allowed to function. A large number of amendments will have to be taken up including 71 by the Government.
While 50 changes have been proposed by the left parties, the DMK is to move three amendments. AIADMK has rejected the Bill saying it goes against what the State is already providing.
The bill, is expected to help the ruling Congress ahead of five assembly polls this year-end and the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and aims to provide 5 kg of foodgrains every month at Rs.1-3 per kg to around 67% of the population.
The bill, part of Congress manifesto in the 2009 polls, is expected to bring electoral benefits just as the rural job plan - the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme - did in the 2009 general elections.
The bill, costing Rs.124,723 crore to the government initially, will bring an additional burden of only Rs.23,800 crore, the Congress has said.
Food Minister K.V. Thomas has said the government had already procured an average 60.2 million tonnes of grains in the past four years and would have no difficulty in managing the 61.2 million tonnes needed in all for the envisaged scheme.
Right to Food Campaign a network of activists have sought changes in the Bill to provide 35 kilos of food grains per household besides inclusion of cooked meals for pre school children under the ICDS scheme under the Bill.
In the original Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2011, the Centre had proposed seven kg of rice or wheat or millets a month for the priority category at Rs 3, Rs 2 and Rs 1 a kg, respectively. And, three kg for each person a month for general category households, at 50% of the support price.
The revised version of the NFSB incorporates amendments to the previous one as suggested by Parliament’s standing committee on food. The panel had suggested 55 amendments and most of these were accepted by the department of food and consumer affairs.
When fully implemented, it will cost the exchequer around Rs 131,000 crore, as against the 2013-14 food subsidy allocation of Rs 90,000 crore. About 62 million tonnes of foodgrain would be required. “We will manage the subsidy component,” said Thomas.
The revised Bill removes the distinction in the earlier one between below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) families. The standing of committee of Parliament had suggested abolishing the AAY category as well, along with APL and BPL, to which the food ministry did not agree.
Nationally, 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban one would now be covered. Under this broad definition, NFSB seeks to give flexibility to states. “The beneficiaries would be decided by state governments, while the criteria to exclude 33% of the population would be provided by the Planning Commission,” Thomas has said.
Earlier, a uniform exclusion criterion was proposed but the chief ministers of states such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh had written to the Prime Minister for more flexibility.
The Centre is to also provide financial assistance to states for meeting the expenses of transportation, handling of foodgrain and margins to ration shops dealers. To provide nutritional security to women, the Bill has been amended to specify payment of at least Rs 6,000 as maternity benefit, in instalments to be decided later. Earlier, it was Rs 1,000 a month for six months.
