Tamil Nadu wants one year extension to implement National Food Security Act

Jayalalithaa also asked to maintain the level of food grain allocation to the state at the current levels

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the time for implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA) for the state by a year.

She also asked to maintain the level of food grain allocation to the state at the current levels.

In a letter to Modi text of which was released to the media Jayalalithaa said "the time limit of September 30, 2015 to implement NFSA in Tamil Nadu is completely unrealistic."

The state has taken up the process of end to end computerisation of the Public Distribution System (PDS), cleaning up the family card data base and the process of seeding the family card data base with Aadhaar numbers, she said adding that only on completion of this process will it be possible to identify the priority households under the NFSA.

 

Centre will also have to take an early decision on Tamil Nadu's request and issues relating to NFSA, which are yet to be satisfactorily addressed, she said in the letter.

The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, in his letter on September 17, has reiterated the need to implement NFSA in the shortest possible time, without satisfactorily addressing Tamil Nadu's concerns regarding the NFSA.

"In this context, it is essential to ensure that the Public Distribution System, which functions most effectively in Tamil Nadu, and is the pride of the state, is not allowed to suffer in anyway by imposing unrealistic time lines. Hence, I request that the union government should extend the process of implementation of NFSA in Tamil Nadu by at least one year and in the meantime address Tamil Nadu's legitimate concerns about NFSA," she said.

She asked the Centre to allocate foodgrains for Tamil Nadu at the present issue prices. This allocation includes 65,262 tonne per month for Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) families, 104,936 tonnes per month for BPL families and 126,255 tonne per month for APL families.

The state also requested additional allocation of 27,969 tonne of rice and 3,108 tonne of wheat per month at BPL rates being provided since April, 2015, may also continue to be supplied for a further period of one year.

Earlier Jayalalithaa had raised a number of concerns about the implementation of the National Food Security Act in her letter dated August 24,.2013, addressed to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. She also made a suggestions to safeguard food security, as these issues were not adequately addressed when the National Food Security Act was passed by the then UPA government.