Cracks in government over Food Security Bill

Prospects of the much-touted Food Security Bill — the UPA government’s next big idea — being introduced in parliament this year appear dim.

Not only has an expert committee in the rural development
ministry responsible for finalising the number of below poverty line (BPL) population in the country put off the census by a year, but differences have also cropped up between Cabinet members on the scope of the bill.

According to top sources in the government, while finance minister Pranab Mukherjee wants to stick to the letter and spirit of the food security bill of providing 25 kg rice and wheat at Rs3, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar wants an umbrella legislation which will see several nutrition and public distribution-related programmes of the government collapse into one programme.

“Many nutrition-based schemes like providing iodine, vitamin A and iron-fortified food at anganwadis (village centres) have been proposed as part of the programme. Widows and senior citizens’ pension will be raised to Rs400 per month. Pregnant women will be given a stipend of Rs1,000 per month between seventh month of their pregnancy till the time their child is six months old to bring down infant mortality rate,” a source in the government said.

Mukherjee, however, is looking at the fiscal deficit and the need to curb at least some part of the subsidies that the UPA government has doled out so far. He is, therefore, in favour of a food security approach rather than an umbrella act.

With no prospects of determining the actual number of beneficiaries of the bill, the BPL census being postponed, and serious differences in the Cabinet over the shape of the bill, it looks like it will not be ready before at least April 2011.