GoM okays food bill draft, but minor issues persist

A high-level inter-ministerial panel on Monday approved the draft national food security bill, which the Centre expects to place before Parliament in monsoon session beginning August 1, a government functionary said.

A high-level inter-ministerial panel on Monday approved the draft national food security bill, which the Centre expects to place before Parliament in monsoon session beginning August 1, a government functionary said.

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The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on food, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, agreed on the bill’s major provisions, even though some minor issues are yet to be sorted. The bill is due to be sent to the law ministry for vetting.

The bill stems from the Congress’s poll promise of making access to affordable rice or wheat for the nation’s citizens a legal right.

Bolivia is the only other nation with a similar law.

Among the major provisions, the Centre will hand out subsidised food to 75% of rural households, of which 46% forms the so-called ‘priority category’ or those living below the poverty line (BPL).

Each individual from BPL families will get a monthly quota of 7 kg of rice, wheat or millets for Rs3, Rs2 or Rs1 respectively. The entitlements for rural households above the poverty line, or the ‘general category’, however, will be fixed within the next few days. They could either be 3 kg or 4 kg for an individual each month.

India’s headcount of BPL people is decided on the basis of a combination of 13 socio-economic parameters, including daily expenditure of Rs20, while World Bank estimates a quarter of India’s billion people will be living in poverty by 2015 or earn less than Rs100 a day.