Monday, Aug 26, 2013
New Delhi: India’s ambitious plan of food-for-all inched closer to becoming a reality with the Lok Sabha on Monday started debate on the Food Security Bill, aimed at providing food subsidies to over 800 million people.
The bill gives state governments six months to implement the scheme in their territories and supply 5kg of rice, wheat or coarse grain to every member of the family living below the poverty line at the highly subsidised rate of Rs3 (Dh0.17), Rs2 and Re1 respectively. Three Congress party-ruled states — Delhi, Haryana and Uttarakhand — will start supplies from September 1.
The Bill generated heated debate in which even some of the allies of the Congress party, like the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, expressed their misgivings and questioned the motive, though they along with the principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said they would vote in favour of the Bill.
Food minister K.V. Thomas initiated the debate in the Lok Sabha in the post-lunch session and virtually left the onus on the state governments for its implementation.
“The matter regarding identification of beneficiaries will be left to the state governments… The scheme will provide more accountability in the current public distribution system,” Thomas said.
The ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, in a rare speech, admitted that there were some shortcomings in the existing public distribution system which needed to be address.
“The PDS (public distribution system) needs reform. The leakage problem has to be addressed,” Sonia said.
Sonia started her speech in Hindi before switching to English and assured parliament that India had the means to support the scheme that will cost the nation approximately Rs1.25 trillion annually.
“There are people who ask whether we have the means to implement this scheme. I would like to say that we have to figure out the means. The question is not whether we can do it or not. We have to do it,” Sonia said, terming it as part of an empowerment revolution.
“This legislation is only the beginning. We will be open to constructive suggestions, we will learn from experience, but we must put aside our differences,” she said, terming the Bill a historic step to eradicate hunger.
“It is time to send out a big message that India can take the responsibility of ensuring food security for all its citizens,” Sonia added.
Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi criticised the government for leaving nearly 33 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion population out of the scheme, saying universal access to food should be the aim.
“I live in a city. What should I eat? Should I eat coal or spectrum?” Joshi questioned, taking potshots at the government facing corruption charges in the coal block and 2G spectrum allocation scams.
“The Bill is not Food Security Bill. This is a vote securing bill,” Joshi said, questioning why introduction of the Bill was delayed for the last year preceding general elections. “Government has taken four years to formulate the Food Bill. In 2009, when UPA-2 came to power, they promised to bring a Food Security Bill. After four-and-a-half years when they are about to go they are bringing this bill. We want to know what they were doing all these years?” Joshi asked.
Even the Samajwadi Party, which provides the crucial outside support to the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, took jibes at the government.
“Why didn’t you bring this Bill earlier when poor people were dying of hunger? Is this for elections or for the hungry?” Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav questioned, adding that the government should have called a meeting of state chief ministers and taken them into confidence before forcing the Bill on them.
The government used its special constitutional power to bypass the parliament and promulgate a presidential ordinance in July to ensure the benefits start reaching the needy before the key state assembly elections due in five states in December this year.
The government ensured smooth sailing of the Food Security Bill after Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar suspended 12 Andhra Pradesh lawmakers who were holding the house to ransom in protest of creation of Telangana as a separate state.
By Ajay Jha Chief Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
