Current grains allocation, AAY entitlement will be protected under the Bill, he assures States

Responding to concerns expressed by several States on a possible cut in food grains allocation under the National Food Security Bill, the Centre on Thursday gave an assurance that the current allocation will be protected and so will the Antyodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) entitlement for the poorest of the poor. The Bill, Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas said, would be reworked to make it “practical” and “acceptable.” It was proposed to be presented in the budget session of Parliament.

State governments are raising objections about the coverage under the proposed Food Security Bill, saying that covering 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of urban as advocated by both the draft Bill and the Standing Committee of Parliament is unacceptable.

“The Centre is saying that the proposed food Bill will ensure food for all. But in reality, this is not the case,” West Bengal Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick said. He said the Centre should instead cover all sections of the population under the Bill and there should not be any provision for cash transfers under the Bill.

Caution Centre against trying to rush the new measure through Parliament

Even as the Centre hopes to introduce and pass the National Food Security Bill in the coming Budget session of Parliament, several States have expressed reservations on the Bill. At a consultation meeting of State Food Ministers here to evolve a consensus on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee to which the government Bill was referred on Wednesday, many States differed on crucial provisions, particularly the ones relating to identification of beneficiaries, sustained availability of grains, proposed cut in individual entitlement and additional expenses to be borne by them.

Revised bill likely to be tabled in the Budget session of Parliament

If all things fall according to plan, the UPA-2’s most ambitious social security programme--the National Food Security Bill--could include more people than the earlier proposed 67% of the India's population. The revised bill is likely to be tabled in the Budget session of Parliament, slated to begin later this month.
The Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) --targeted towards the poorest of the poor-- which was launched by the NDA government in December 2000, is likely to be retained in the final version of the bill.

Bill Will Be Reintroduced In Parliament In Budget Session, Says MoS K V Thomas

Kochi: The Centre is in broad agreement with the suggestions of the parliamentary panel on food, which has just submitted its report on the much-debated food security bill, said minister of state for food and civil supplies K V Thomas. “The panel has come up with a near unanimous report, barring a dissent from the CPM member. Many of the suggestions made by the panel were already there in the ‘plan B’, being considered by the government to proceed with the bill,” the minister told TOI here.

New Delhi: Says direct cash transfer in lieu of grain currently not desirable

A Parliamentary panel on the food security Bill has suggested providing legal entitlement of 5 kg of heavily-subsidised grain to each beneficiary per month, which would cover 67% of the country's population. The Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, headed by Vilas Muttemwar, also said the direct cash transfer in lieu of grain entitlements at this juncture may not be desirable, suggesting that banking infrastructure and accessibility to banking facility need to be made available throughout India before introducing the cash transfer.

The parliamentary panel reviewing the National Food Security Bill, 2011, is understood have recommended that states should be allowed to prescribe guidelines for identification of 'priority' and 'general' households for subsidised foodgrains.

The panel chaired by Lok Sabha MP Vilas Muttemwar has also asked the government to devise a clearly defined criteria in consultation with the states to identify those outside the ambit of the scheme, seeking to expand the scope of existing public distribution system.

Chances of the food security Bill becoming a law in the near future have dimmed with Parliament’s standing committee on food not submitting its recommendations in the winter session, which ended on Thursday.

“There is no possibility of submitting the report in the winter session of Parliament, as all the evidences are not yet ready with us,” Vilas Muttemwar, chairman of the committee, said.

The UPA government’s food security bill will take more time for enactment as the parliamentary standing committee on food has expressed its inability to submit report in the current session.

The parliamentary standing committee on food is giving a final shape to the UPA-II government’s ambitious Food Security Bill.