All states and Union Territories, barring Tamil Nadu, will implement the landmark National Food Security Act by March 2016, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today said.
Till now, 22 states and UTs have rolled out the law while 14 are in the process of doing so, he said.
The law was passed by Parliament in 2013 and state governments were given one year to implement the scheme. Since then, the deadline has been extended thrice, with the latest one ending this September.
The food law provides legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains per person every month at Rs 1-3 kg to two-thirds of India's population.
"Except for Tamil Nadu, all other states have said they will implement the Food Law by the end of March 2016," Paswan briefed media after the review meeting with state food secretaries here.
Of 14 states that have not implemented the Food Law, the minister said Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim have said they will implement the same in December.
Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, and Andaman & Nicobar will roll it out in January 2016 while other states -- Gujarat, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland -- will do it by March next year, he added.
In the meeting, a Tamil Nadu government official said it can implement the law in July 2016 since it's implementing the universal public distribution system.
The state is also finding it difficult to identify beneficiaries under the Food Law and is yet to put in place end-to-end computerisation in this regard, the official said.
On direct cash transfer of food subsidy, Paswan said, "We are implementing it on a pilot basis in Puducherry and Chandigarh. It is not mandatory for states to implement direct benefit transfer (DBT). It is optional for states if they want to give cash subsidy in some parts of the state."
Addressing concerns of some states on direct cash subsidy issue, Food Secretary Vrinda Swarup said: "We are not forcing states to go for DBT. If they want to implement at urban centres, they have that option."
However, she made it clear that it is mandatory for states to install e-PoS machines backed with Aadhar identification to ensure subsidised grains reach the eligible beneficiary.
Till now, e-PoS machines have been installed at over 51,000 ration shops while the target is to cover 1.5 lakh by the end of this fiscal, she said.
The secretary said digitisation of list of beneficiaries, doorstep delivery of grains and setting up of grievance redressal cell are three basic requirements that are mandatory for states to implement the Food Law.
She also said the deletion of bogus ration cards in the last two years has helped the government save Rs 4,000 crore food subsidy.
The meeting also discussed about foodgrain procurement, storage and transportation issues.
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In his inaugural address, Paswan emphasized the need for early implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) by all states and UTs in proper manner.
"14 States/UTs are yet to roll out the NFSA. States must keep in view that it is in the interest of the common people that the Act is implemented without any further delay because not only the people get foodgrains at cheaper rates but also more number of people are covered," he said in a statement.
Those state governments, which are further subsidizing foodgrains, will save on the state subsidy as the issue prices under NFSA are already very low, he added.
Paswan further said that some states in their eagerness to implement the NFSA missed the spirit of the Act to ensure foodgrains reach the intended beneficiary with 100 per cent transparency.
"It is to be kept in view that right from lifting of foodgrains from FCI depots, the state governments are responsible to make sure that the foodgrains reach the fair price shops without any leakage and are distributed to the beneficiaries in time," he said.
To ensure all this, states are required to correctly identify the beneficiaries, digitise the beneficiary database and place the same on PDS portal and also to have a robust grievance redressal mechanism, he added.
The Centre is providing both technical and financial support to enable the states to computerize PDS operations. It is also providing assistance in meeting expenditure on intra- state transport and handling of foodgrains and fair price shop dealers' margin, the statement added.
