Agriculture minister Sharad Pawaradmitted said that the constitution and size of BPL families was proving to be the biggest challenge in this exercise.
The Food Security Bill is unlikely to see the light of the day this fiscal. According to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, though the UPA government is committed to providing food security to all, the below poverty line (BPL) math and elaborate procedure required to draft this law will take another 8-10 months.
Speaking in the capital on Thursday, Pawar said: “The procedure involves incorporation of statistics from Planning Commission about BPL families, consultation with the prime minister and then with states. Public views will be sought thereafter… I think it will take another 8-10 months for this bill to become a reality.”
Pawar admitted that the constitution and size of BPL families was proving to be the biggest challenge in this exercise. “In the last one year, 1.8 crore families which were earlier classified as BPL have been eliminated from this list by state governments… there are others who are genuine BPL contenders but don’t find a mention.”
He also spoke about supply of adequate foodgrain to do justice to this bill. The Planning Commission has been tasked with identifying and quantifying BPL families across the country, since this strata of society would be given food at pre-determined and subsidised rates in the first round.
Pawar reiterated cabinet colleague and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s assertion that prices of essential commodities had begun to come down. He pointed out that public anger over price rise had been mitigated by adequate availability of foodgrain through the public distribution system (PDS). He, however, admitted that a comprehensive overhaul of the PDS system was essential.
Making out a case of exceptionally high minimum support price (MSP) for commodities like wheat and paddy this year, the minister said that farmers’ needs had to be kept in mind. “It was a conscious decision of this government to raise MSP. It is extremely challenging to balance farmers’ interests and prices of essential commodities.”
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