The National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Sonia Gandhi, today recommended differential legal entitlement of foodgrain to nearly 800 million people through a reformed public distribution system (PDS) network from the next financial year.
NAC also decided to set aside the below poverty line (BPL) criteria and suggested two broad categories — priority and general — eligible for foodgrain under the proposed food security law.
According to the recommendations, those under the ‘priority’ category will have a monthly entitlement of 35 kg foodgrain at a subsidised price of Rs 1 a kg for millets, Rs 2 a kg for wheat and Rs 3 a kg for rice.
The ‘general’ category households will have monthly entitlement of 20 kg of foodgrain at a price not exceeding 50 per cent of the minimum support price.
The recommendations were finalised at the sixth meeting of the council chaired by Gandhi here today. “We are obviating the need to look at the BPL data. Starting from the top, we have decided to knock off 15 per cent of the most affluent section from the rural areas and 60 per cent from the urban areas and include the rest under the food security net,” said Narendra Jadhav, member, NAC.
He said NAC had recommended implementation of the first phase of the food security law from the beginning of the next financial year and planned to cover the entire country by 2014.
Jadhav said the first phase of the food security law might cost the exchequer an additional Rs 15,137 crore in form of food subsidies. After the implementation of the final phase, the additional cost would be Rs 23,231 crore. At present, the government gives food subsidies worth Rs 56,700 crore every year.
The recommendations are likely to be considered by the Union Cabinet and then moved in the form of a National Food Security Bill in Parliament.
