Ministers approve draft of India’s food security bill

Keen to introduce the food security bill in Parliament during the upcoming monsoon session, an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday approved a draft version of the bill.

The bill as approved by the ministerial panel dilutes some of the proposals put forward the National Advisory Council headed by Congress party president Sonia Gandhi.

While it provides for subsidised grain distribution even to above the poverty line (APL) households as defined by the government, it covers only 75 per cent of rural families, rather than the 90 per cent suggested by the NAC.

While scaling down the legal entitlement of rural households, it has retained the 50-per cent coverage of the urban population suggested by the NAC. But the draft also scales down the entitlement of APL households from the suggested 4kg per person per month to 3kg; and has canned the NAC's proposal of a separate minimum entitlement for single-member households.

The proposals of the draft prepared by the food ministry are estimated to make available 61 million tonnes of grains, and a subsidy of Rs95,000 crore.

Even this level of subsidy had been opposed by a committee appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to look into the matter. The panel felt it was not viable; but the EGoM has cleared it overruling the objections.