New Delhi:
Union Food Minister KV Thomas and representatives of states met today to discuss the National Food Security Bill and the recommendations of Parliament Standing Committee.
"We intend to present the revised Bill in Parliament in the forthcoming Budget session and therefore this is the last opportunity for consultation before finalizing the Bill," Mr Thomas said at the beginning of the meeting.
But getting a consensus on the government's ambitious National Food Security Bill is not an easy task. As representatives of over 20 states across the country spent a day discussing the draft bill and the recommendations of the standing committee of Parliament, the views were as divergent and varied.
Most of the economically backward states were of the view that the poverty levels in different states must be taken into account before deciding on any exclusion ratios. They feel that "exclusion ratios", which provides for exclusion of 25 % of rural and 50% of urban population from the Public Distribution System (PDS), will adversely hit the weaker states the hardest.
They suggest that such ratios be decided after consultation with states. It's a concern brought up by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and now again reiterated by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in a letter to the PM today.
In his letter, Raman Singh has also suggested that entitlements for eligible persons should be provided on a household basis instead of an entitlement on a per capita basis. Consequently, instead of providing 5kg foodgrain per person in a month, the govt should fix it to at least 35kg per household each month. A view also shared by the state of Gujarat.
"The prescription of an exclusion criteria and prescription of exclusion limits are counteractive to each other," he wrote in his letter. Chhattisgarh has also implemented its own food security act recently without any inclusion or exclusion criteria.
Food Minister of Bihar Shyam Rajak told NDTV, "The government should set up a Below Poverty Line (BPL) commission to ensure that no eligible persons are excluded. But since this is a Central legislation, the centre should also bear the financial burden of it."
Meanwhile Gujarat has strongly opposed the standing committee's recommendation on categorisation of states on financial basis, calling it discriminatory. The state Food Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said, "Gujarat's performance is better mainly because of fiscal discipline. Such additional expenditure is to be incurred due to the Central legislation so it should be borne by the Centre."
Food Minister of Tamil Nadu R Kamaraj said, "The government should exempt Tamil Nadu from the implementation of the proposed food security bill and allow Tamil Nadu to implement the existing universal PDS as it is more effective, robust and time tested. In a federal structure like ours where the states are in close and direct contact with the people the choice of designing and implementing popular welfare schemes is at best left to the states."
The government hopes to present the revised bill in the forthcoming session of Parliament starting on February 21 but given the cross section of views, it's truly going to be an uphill task to strike a balance between the many representations from across the country.