 "K V Thomas")
After much dallying, the ruling coalition’s most ambitious social security programme, for access to cheap food, was gazetted in the form of the National Food Security Ordinance. Food and public distribution minister K V Thomas defends the method and the new law in a talk with Sanjeeb Mukherjee. Excerpts:
Critics have questioned the timing and the haste in which Ordinance was promulgated.
We had to implement this at some point. The President of India made the announcement regarding the Food Security Bill way back in 2009. The very next day, the ministry circulated a draft paper on it.
Then an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) was formed under the chairmanship of then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, which met as many as eight times. The National Advisory Council under the chairmanship of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi also met several times on this.
Thereafter, many national conferences of food ministers were held and finally, in 2011, we presented the Bill in Parliament, then referred to a standing committee. The Committee took a year to vet the bill. In January 2013, we accepted all the recommendations which suggested a much expanded coverage. We are now going to cover almost 800 million Indians. So, this was not a work in haste.
The bypassing of Parliament?
We brought the Bill in Parliament on March 21 but the Houses were not allowed to function. So, we thought of bringing the Ordinance. Earlier, we had deferred a cabinet decision to bring the Ordinance and held another round of discussion on June 13.
The BJP said they wanted the Chhattisgarh model (which ensures 90% coverage) and the Left parties wanted universal coverage but no one gave us an assurance that the Bill would be discussed in Parliament. Hence, we opted for the Ordinance route. Even now, when Parliament convenes, political parties are free to suggest amendments and we will look into those.
Critics have also slammed the programme as too costly and not in the interest of controlling the fiscal deficit.
The subsidy burden in operating the current Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) is Rs 1,09,000 crore. On the basis of the 2010 census, it is expected to swell to Rs 1,19,000 crore. After the Bill comes into force, expenses of running the other welfare programmes like allowance for pregnant women, cooked food for children, etc, will be Rs 15,000 crore.
Also, some burden has to be borne for reimbursing the cost of transportation and storage to the states, which is Rs 8,000 crore, so the total comes to Rs 1,42,000 crore. Considering that the Rs 15,000 crore is already being incurred by some other ministry, the actual extra expenditure on account of the Ordinance is just Rs 8,000 crore.
What about the allegation that it will crowd out private traders?
The food ordinance will require around 62 million tonnes of grains a year. Production in 2011-12 was 200 mt and procurement was 80 mt. The agriculture ministry’s projection for 2039-40 shows production is expected at 253.2 mt that year and procurement is 82.8 mt.
This clearly shows I will have enough food to sustain the programme and also leave substantial quantities for the private grain trade. If the trade was not crowded out so far, I suppose they won’t when we need to procure, in fact, less grain.
Also, if there is any problem we have measures like the Open Market Sales Scheme and export, which we have done in the last few years. Also, we will take all measures to sustain agriculture production.
What happens if a drought strikes India and grain production drops?
We have sufficient provisions in the Ordinance to meet any exigencies. We have the option of providing cash in case of war or any other natural calamity.
What happens next on food security? How will the ministry and the states go about it?
State governments will have to identify the poor in the next six months. We in the department have started the work on framing the rules. I have personally called many state chief ministers in the past couple of days to inform them about the Ordinance and they have started responding. Delhi will be the first to implement the Bill on August 20; thereafter, it will be Karnataka and then maybe Kerala.
Suppose a state does not want to implement the provisions?
No state can say that because it is now a law and gives a legal right to the people of this country for food.
There are also concerns over the nutritional aspect, with some saying that over-reliance on grain is not correct when consumption of items like pulses, oilseeds, etc, is growing?
We are formulating schemes for providing subsidised edible oils and pulses to those below the poverty line (BPL), which for the time being will be independent of the food ordinance, but will become part of the programme at some stage. We also have plans to distribute milk through the Public Distribution System (PDS) as part of the food ordinance.
