Food for all on govts agenda
National food security act set to come up in first 100 days of upa-II…..Ravish Tiwari
National food security act set to come up in first 100 days of upa-II…..Ravish Tiwari
New Delhi: The new UPA ministry has barely started settling in, but the bureaucracy is already working overtime to implement a political promise made by the Congress in its election manifesto the National Food Security Act (NFSA), modelled along the lines of NREGA. Top government sources have said that the government would try to introduce the NFSA in Parliament within the first 100 days of its tenure. In fact, if all goes according to plan, the Congress-led government might try to introduce the legislation in the July session of Parliament.
Mandarins in the Food and Agriculture Ministry have already sent a bulky background note including reports from the UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) detailing the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition and the policy approaches to tackle it to Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar. Sources said that the Food and Agriculture Ministry has also suggested that the Cabinet Secretary enlist the services of the departments of Women & Child Development and Rural Development, as well as the Planning Commission, before finalising the legislation.
The National Food Security Act (NFSA) proposes guaranteeing food for all the vulnerable sections of society through legislation, unlike the existing allocation-based schemes.
The Indian National Congress pledges to enact a Right to Food law that guarantees access to sufficient food for all people, particularly the most vulnerable sections of society. The Indian National Congress pledges that every family living below the poverty line, either in rural or urban areas, will be entitled, by law, to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg, the manifesto had announced.
Though the paperwork has begun on this count, official sources in the ministry point out that the Cabinet will have to take a broader political call on whether to fulfill this promise through legislation or just by expanding the existing scheme to accommodate the promise made by the Congress.
A hint for the much-needed political call was given by Food and Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, soon after he took over the charge. While he said that the government would be able to fulfill the promise of subsidised foodgrains to BPL families at the fixed price, he parried queries about whether the scheme would be backed by a law as promised by the Congress.
We will have to go into the details of its (legislative route) impact before taking a decision, Pawar said, adding, In case there is crop failure or deficient rains and production goes down, an alternative needs to be found. After making arrangements for such an eventuality, we will move in this front.
However, the bureaucracy is taking no chances and has started examining all policy approaches, including the Voluntary Guidelines prepared by the FAO in 2004 to various countries to support the progressive realisation of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.
Alternatively, the ministry also has the option of broadening the ambit of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) which currently covers about 40 per cent of the BPL population to the entire BPL population, but without any legislative provisions.
As against the Congress promise of 25 kg of rice or wheat each month at Rs 3 per kg, under the AAY the poorest families are provided with 35 kg of rice and wheat at Rs 2 per kg for wheat and Rs 3 per kg for rice.