New Delhi:
Two days before the Food Minister is expected to consult representatives of all state governments over the union government's ambitious National Food Security Bill, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has written a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
In his letter, Mr Kumar urges the PM to consider some specific concerns in respect of a state like Bihar.
The National Food Security Bill seeks to limit entitlements to a maximum of 75 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban population, provided that not more than 46 per cent rural and 28 per cent urban population is designated as priority households.
The Bill, which was introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament in December 2010, was sent to a Parliament Standing Committee for its recommendations. The committee submitted it report to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha last month.
While the Mr Kumar has welcomed the Parliament standing committee's recommendations of uniform provision of entitlement at 5 kg per person per month, he has also flagged some concerns about due consideration being given to poor states when it comes to exclusion ratios.
In his letter, the Bihar Chief Minister says that exclusion ratios should not be decided in a uniform manner across all states, otherwise the poorer states will stand to lose. Instead, a simple and fair way of state-wise exclusion criteria must be agreed upon in consultation with state governments.
Mr Kumar also suggests the cut-offs should be decided in such a way that at least 25 per cent of the rural and at least 50 per cent of urban population should be above the cut offs. A suggestion that is in line with the recommendations of the standing committee which had in its report talked about the problems of uniform exclusion ratios.
The report said, "In case uniform exclusion ratios are applied in every State, it would be unfair to the poorer States and would defeat the very purpose of the Bill. The committee therefore recommended ...state-wise exclusion ratio should be prescribed in a transparent manner so as to retain the existing coverage of population and enable the Government to determine the inter-State food grains allocations under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) with the cut-offs set in such a way that 25% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population are above the respective cut-offs at the national level. If this calculation leads to a lower food grains allocation to a particular State than what it is receiving presently, the Central Government may protect the existing allocations to that State through an Executive Order thereby protecting the interest of that State."
Mr Kumar has also suggested setting up of a BPL commission to identify genuine beneficiaries, even as he writes, "National Food Security Bill is a central legislation which has been proposed pursuant to the central government's own planning and policy.
Therefore, it is the Centre who should bear the entire cost of the proposed paradigm shift in addressing the problem of food security from the current welfare approach to a right-based approach."
In fact, in a letter written to the PM in September last year, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had also urged the PM opposing the idea of "uniform exclusion" across states, which he felt would be extremely unfair for poorer states.
In his letter, Mr Kumar urges the PM to consider some specific concerns in respect of a state like Bihar.
The National Food Security Bill seeks to limit entitlements to a maximum of 75 per cent of rural and 50 per cent of urban population, provided that not more than 46 per cent rural and 28 per cent urban population is designated as priority households.
The Bill, which was introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament in December 2010, was sent to a Parliament Standing Committee for its recommendations. The committee submitted it report to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha last month.
While the Mr Kumar has welcomed the Parliament standing committee's recommendations of uniform provision of entitlement at 5 kg per person per month, he has also flagged some concerns about due consideration being given to poor states when it comes to exclusion ratios.
In his letter, the Bihar Chief Minister says that exclusion ratios should not be decided in a uniform manner across all states, otherwise the poorer states will stand to lose. Instead, a simple and fair way of state-wise exclusion criteria must be agreed upon in consultation with state governments.
Mr Kumar also suggests the cut-offs should be decided in such a way that at least 25 per cent of the rural and at least 50 per cent of urban population should be above the cut offs. A suggestion that is in line with the recommendations of the standing committee which had in its report talked about the problems of uniform exclusion ratios.
The report said, "In case uniform exclusion ratios are applied in every State, it would be unfair to the poorer States and would defeat the very purpose of the Bill. The committee therefore recommended ...state-wise exclusion ratio should be prescribed in a transparent manner so as to retain the existing coverage of population and enable the Government to determine the inter-State food grains allocations under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) with the cut-offs set in such a way that 25% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population are above the respective cut-offs at the national level. If this calculation leads to a lower food grains allocation to a particular State than what it is receiving presently, the Central Government may protect the existing allocations to that State through an Executive Order thereby protecting the interest of that State."
Mr Kumar has also suggested setting up of a BPL commission to identify genuine beneficiaries, even as he writes, "National Food Security Bill is a central legislation which has been proposed pursuant to the central government's own planning and policy.
Therefore, it is the Centre who should bear the entire cost of the proposed paradigm shift in addressing the problem of food security from the current welfare approach to a right-based approach."
In fact, in a letter written to the PM in September last year, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had also urged the PM opposing the idea of "uniform exclusion" across states, which he felt would be extremely unfair for poorer states.
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