Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan today held a review meeting with state food secretaries.
All states and Union Territories (UTs), 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 five kg of subsidised foodgrains per person every month at Rs one to three 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," said Mr Paswan after the review meeting with state food secretaries.
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.
On direct cash transfer of food subsidy, Mr 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."
However, Food Secretary Vrinda Swarup made it clear that it is mandatory for states to install e-PoS or electronic point of sale technology 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.