New Delhi:
The government has launched a Rs 1.25 lakh crore welfare scheme on Wednesday to give cheap food to nearly 70 per cent of the population, a scheme that's been planned as a centre-piece of the ruling Congress party's plan to win a third term in office in elections due by May 2014.
The minority government sidestepped a debate in parliament and the cabinet resorted to an executive order to turn the Food Security Bill into law. Under the scheme, rice will be available at Rs 3 a kilo, and wheat at Rs 2 a kilo to India's poorest families.
The ordinance must be cleared by Parliament within six weeks of its next seating.
The ambitious scheme, championed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, will raise the annual food subsidy spending by 45 per cent.
It promises subsidized food to some 810 million people, expanding current handouts to roughly 318 million people.
Last month, the Prime Minister had asked his senior ministers to make one last effort to win over the opposition, which had said the scheme must be debated in Parliament. A key ally, Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, had opposed the government's plan to use special constitutional powers to clear the proposal.
However, Sharad Pawar, who is Agriculture Minister, and heads an important constituent of the ruling coalition, was brought on board after early reservations against the ordinance.
The push for the ordinance was reportedly based on suggestions from the Election Commission that state elections will be announced by September 22. That means the model code of conduct will kick in, which prohibits the government from announcing any big policies that could impact voting.
The government has in the past expressed its concern over the main opposition party, the BJP, causing a paralysis of the next Parliament session, as it did during the last, demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister over alleged malpractices by his government in how valuable coal fields were assigned at under-valued prices to private firms.