Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the government is committed to tabling the National Food Security Bill in Parliament soon to provide a legal guarantee for cheaper rice and wheat to the poor.
"We are committed to bringing before Parliament soon the Right to Food Act...,"
Singh said after inaugurating a conference of US think-tank International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in New Delhi.
Since malnutrition is particularly high amongst the poor and the vulnerable, they need to be supplemented with social safety nets, the Prime Minister said, adding that the National Food Security Bill will ensure this.
The Bill aims to provide the poor a legal guarantee for cheaper rice and wheat and was a part of the Congress' 2009 election manifesto.
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council (NAC) is working on a draft Bill. The NAC has proposed a legal entitlement to subsidised foodgrains for 75% of the country's total population.
According to NAC's proposal, the government should provide 35 kg of foodgrains a month to "priority households" at a subsidised rate of Rs. 1 per kg for millet, Rs. 2 for wheat and Rs. 3 for rice.
For "general category" households, the NAC has suggested supplying 20 kg of foodgrains at a price not exceeding 50 per cent of the prevailing minimum support price (Rs 5.50 a kg for wheat and Rs. 7.70 per kg for rice now).
After examining the NAC proposals, the Prime Minister's panel, headed by PMEAC chief C Rangarajan, has raised concerns over availability of the foodgrain to implement the NAC proposal. The panel suggested providing legal guarantee to the poor on a priority basis.
The projected requirement of foodgrains to implement NAC proposal is higher than the current average procurement of 50-54 million tonnes, Rangarajan had observed.
The government supplies subsidised rice and wheat through ration shops to Rs. 6.52 crore below poverty line families and Rs. 11.5 crore above poverty families. But there no legal guarantee to this at present.